Lost Souls
by Starlit Anabelle
Summary: Panic rises when Edward suddenly disappears. Meanwhile, Ed is taken prisoner and shipped to a place of horrors, and where all of the prisoners have lost all hope. And he must find of an escape soon, before he joins that number...
1. And So It Begins

Author's Note-First off, the disclaimer. I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Second, this is my first FullMetal Alchemist fanfic that's not a crossover. I actually got the inspiration for it from a roleplay… Anyways, it was gnawing at my brain, so I figured that I just had to write it down. This chapter was a bit hard to write, though, so don't mind its length and lack of activity. It'll pick up further into the plot. Oh, and I'd also like to thank Ash the Twisted for beta reading this for me.

A golden-eyed teen walked down the dirt road towards the graveyard. His younger brother was back at the Rockbells', helping out the residents that lived there. It was pretty quiet, despite it being noon. Hardly anything ever happened there. Hence the quiet life of the country town Risemboul.

Edward Elric wasn't sure why he had decided to go to the graveyard all of a sudden. He felt like going to his mother's grave, though the idea was impulsive, spur-of-the-moment. Which was why he was walking alone.

He reached the graveyard and walked over to a grave. The grave of his mother, Trisha Elric. The golden eyes blinked and he frowned, looking around. Strange. He felt as if someone was watching him, but he didn't see anyone around.

The boy glanced back at the grave, then sighed. Just in case... "…I should be getting back now. Al and Winry are going to be wondering where I am," he muttered.

His eyes widened as he suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around him and a clothed hand clamp over his mouth. Before he could put his hands together, a taste suddenly hit his mouth. Being an alchemist, he could easily identify the chemical with ease.

Chloroform.

His eyes met darkness, and his figure was limp within moments.

* * *

"Guys, it's time for supper!" Winry called. She walked outside, only to run into metal. "Ack!"

The suit of armor looked down. "Oh. Sorry, Winry. I wasn't watching where I was going," he apologized. Though he was sincere, his voice had a bit of a distracted note to it.

The blonde girl blinked. "Al? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Winry…have you seen Ed?" Al asked. Though it was impossible, Winry could swear that his eyes expressed worry. "He's been gone since this afternoon, and it's already getting dark…"

"No, I haven't. I actually was just looking for the both of you…" Winry admitted. "An ideas where he might be?"

"Maybe Mom's grave…" Al suggested. "Though he shouldn't have been gone for this long."

"May as well go look. There's not may places he _could _be," Winry said, frowning.

Al nodded. "Yeah…"

The two made their way to the graveyard. When they arrived there, they noticed small footprints. It had rained the day before, so the ground was still somewhat muddy.

"Those are Ed's footprints…" Al said, following them up to the grave of his mother. The tracks were suddenly joined with another, this one coming from a different angle. "What the…" Al followed the tracks, his pace quickening. Ed's smaller footprints had become blurred, as if he had been dragged. He stopped, and if he had his human body back, he would have gone pale.

"Al? Al, what did you find?" Winry called, running up to him. She stopped and her eyes widened.

Tire tracks leading down the road...

Ed had been kidnapped.

* * *

"C'mon, Sheska. Let's keep the ball rolling. Case Twenty-Seven…" Lieutenant Colonel Hughes ordered. Sheska sighed wearily as she began to copy the next case onto paper from memory. Hughes was about to show her yet another out of the hundreds of picture of Elicia, since his beautiful little daughter's smile could perk anyone's spirits and give them more than enough energy, when he was suddenly cut off by the phone.

"Hello?" he asked, picking it up. His look grew grim. "Another one?" he asked. Pause. Then, "Well, have they got any leads?" Another pause, then, "I see. I'll be over there to check it out soon." He hung up the phone and sighed. He turned, about to leave when the phone rang again. He turned back and picked up. "Hello?"

"Hughes! Something's happened…!" Al said on the other end, sounding really upset.

Hughes frowned. "Al…?" he asked. The poor kid sounded almost panicked. What could've happened? Did Scar follow them to Risemboul? "What happened?"

"Niisan's been kidnapped!"

Hughes' amber eyes widened, but then narrowed in seriousness. "Kidnapped? You're sure?"

"Yeah. He went off to the graveyard this afternoon. We went to the graveyard about twenty minutes ago and followed his tracks. There's signs of a struggle, then him getting dragged to a vehicle…" Al said.

Hughes' frown grew darker. _It couldn't be…_ he thought. Not another kidnapping… To Al, he said, "I'll see what I can do. Just hang tight. Where are you?"

"At the Rockbells'."

"Alright. I'll see if I can get over there as soon as possible." With that, the lieutenant colonel sighed and hung up. Another kidnapping. And this one even less related to the last. What was going on…?

* * *

Ed groaned and slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt. He heard the sounds of being in a truck or something. What happened…?

He sat up and looked around. Not much to look around at. He did seem to be in the back of a truck, where all was sealed off. It was dark. Noticing he was by the wall, he leaned back so his head could rest against it. He felt slightly dizzy…

"I need to get out of here…" Ed muttered, bringing his arms up to… Wait! His arm! "What the?.!"

He looked over at his right arm, or where his right arm _should_ have been. It was gone! As well as his left leg…

"What happened…?" he whispered. "Hey!" he shouted, hoping that the people up front could hear him. "What the hell's going on?.! Where are you taking me?.!"

A small window, a little rectangle of light suddenly appeared up front. "Pipe down, kid," a man said, peering in.

Ed growled. "I'm not a kid. What the hell is this?"

"You'll see, kid."

"I told you, I'm not a kid!" Ed said, twitching as he thought the man was referring to his height. "What did you do with my arm?.! And my leg?.!"

"Guinea pigs aren't in any position to ask questions…" the man said. He paused for a moment. "Kid."

The blonde boy was on the verge of snapping at being called a kid again, when he something in that statement caught him. "Guinea pig…?" He glared. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Like I said, you'll see, kid." Before Ed could respond, something clattered to the floor as the window snapped shut.

"Bastard…" Ed grumbled. He looked down at the object. "Now what…?" To answer his question, smoke began to spew out of the end of the small ball. No, not smoke… "Gas!" His eyes widened as he coughed. He slipped back into darkness as he fell unconscious…

Author's Note-Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon. I'm already working on it (as well as the next chapter to Dark Rain, for those who read that fanfic.) Please review and I'll get the next chapter out as quickly as I can. -nodnod- Ja ne!


	2. Welcome to Hell

Author's Note-Wow! I didn't expect to get so many reviews… -smiles- I told you I'd update soon. It's getting easier to write, especially now that I'm getting some help from my friends Kisike and Mikomi. Which reminds me, for the disclaimer…Ezra belongs to Mikomi, Tsuki belongs to Kisike, and Kiteay belongs to Kitsunnie. Abby is one of my original characters and Ash is the character of my beta reader, Ash the Twisted. More will come as the story progresses, and I'll mention them in the disclaimer as the story goes on. –nodnod- Also, FullMetal Alchemist does not belong to me (though that's probably a given.) Oh, a warning I forgot to mention in the last chapter: this fanfic is going to end up having a lot of Ed torture. The rating will possibly even go up due to language and violence; I'm not sure yet. Anyways, with all that said, here's the next chapter.

It was a strange day for the people of Rismboul. Never since the Ishbal Massacre had they seen so many military personnel congregate in their rural town, though it really was not that many. Hughes, Armstrong, Ross, Brosh, and some other soldiers walked down the dirt road, to the large house of the Rockbells'.

"Grandma! Al! They're here!" Winry exclaimed, looking inside. She ran over to the arriving soldiers. "Thank goodness you guys have come! Edward…he's been…"

"We know, Winry," Hughes said quietly, stopping and putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "We're going to try to find him. Don't start panicking yet." However, despite his words, he wasn't too sure on just how easy it would be to find the blonde boy. It had been nearly four days since the incident. It was doubtful there would be many clues left behind, if any.

He looked up to see Al standing behind a small old lady in the doorway. He walked over, his face grim. "Hey, Alphonse," he said. He looked down at the woman. "And you must be Pinako Rockbell, am I right?"

The woman drew in deep from her long pipe, then blew out smoke. "That's right," she said. "You certainly fit the role of Intelligence. Now, about Edward…"

"Don't worry, ma'am! We'll find the boy," Armstrong proclaimed, suddenly behind Hughes and posing. His shirt had some way of making it off him, and his pink sparkles practically showered down all around him. Ross sighed and Brosh sweatdropped.

"Well, I certainly hope so. We're all really worried about him," Pinako said.

"We'll do our best," Ross assured. Brosh glanced over at her, then straightened, putting on his most serious face.

"Right!" he seconded.

"Thanks, guys…" Al said.

Hughes smiled. "Hey, it's no problem," he said gently. "Now, Al. Do you think you could show us where this graveyard is?"

"Huh? Sure. This way…" Al replied, starting down the road. The soldiers followed.

"You know, I just don't see how FullMetal could've been captured," Brosh commented. "I mean, he was a pretty tough kid."

Ross shot him a look. "He still _is_ a tough kid," she pointed out. "He's not dead; I refuse to believe that."

"I have to agree with Lieutenant Ross. It's not over till it's over. Besides, I could name several ways Ed could've been kidnapped," Hughes said.

"But it seems like he would've put up a fight, knowing him, Sir," Brosh said.

"He probably didn't have the chance," Hughes replied.

When they all got to the graveyard, the soldiers all fanned out. Hughes stood next to Al, watching and supervising. He sighed. "I'm sorry this hand to happen, Al. We've had a spree of random kidnappings all over Amestris, and especially in Central recently. I just never thought it would reach the quiet town of Risemboul, much less directly effect a State Alchemist. I probably should've sent an escort to go with you two while Ed's automail was being touched up."

"It's not your fault, Hughes. You couldn't have known," Al assured him.

"…Maybe…"

Al looked over at the lieutenant colonel. "By the way, does Mustang know about this yet?" he asked curiously.

Hughes shook his head. "Not at the moment. He's got his hands full at the moment. I decided not to contact him about this until we know just how serious this is," he responded. He looked up at Al. "By the way, has anything happened since the kidnapping? Perhaps Ed's kidnapping isn't related to any of the others. You guys _have_ made some enemies, after all…"

Al shook his head. "No, nothing. At least, nothing yet…" he replied.

Hughes nodded. "Alright…" he said. "We're going to be staying at the local inn, but we're going to have one or two of us staying over at the Rockbells'. The last thing we need is you or Winry to be kidnapped, too."

Al nodded. "Sure."

"Sir!" One of the soldiers ran over, holding a small bottle with a rag. "We found this by the crime scene."

Hughes blinked, his eyebrows raising slightly, but then his look regained seriousness. "Good. Take it back to the hotel and start checking for fingerprints. Be careful with any chemicals it may contain."

"Yes Sir!"

As the soldier saluted and ran off, Hughes looked up at the sky. "Edward…we're looking for you. Just hang tight, okay?"

* * *

_Cold… _was Ed's first thought as he awoke. He let out a soft moan. How long had he been out…? "Damned gas…" he muttered. He sat up from the cold concrete floor, feeling slightly off-balance. He still had yet to regain his automail arm and leg. He noticed that he was no longer wearing his normal outfit, but instead some white shorts and a white t-shirt. 

He looked around the concrete room. Florescent lights shone overhead. Around him were test tubes and cages with people trapped inside like animals. A few tables were strewn about here and there, and a door was off to the left, another towards the right in the front of the room. Some tools hung on the wall across the room. "Where…where am I…?" he whispered.

"Cages," a girl said. She looked a bit taller than him-around 5'5, maybe. She had long blonde hair and green eyes. But that's when things got odd. Her normal ears weren't where they should've been, but instead, two cat ears twitched from the top of her head. A furry tail swished behind her. The girl was sitting and staring at him from two cages over.

"Basically hell on earth," Another girl said. Her cage was right next to his. The girl looked around his height-only 5'2. She was pale with an athletic build, and had chin-length red hair. Her eyes were closed as she sat down, leaning against the bars of the cage.

"Hell on earth…?" Ed repeated with a frown. "But…"

A boy with silver, braided hair a lot like Ed's and golden eyes looked up at them. "You ladies haven't seen Hell yet..." he said to the girls. Ed looked up at the tag on the top of his cage. It read 'Ezra.'

Come to think of it, all the cages seemed to have the names of probably their captives. The redhead's cage read 'Abby', and the blonde's read 'Tsuki.' One cage in the corner read 'Ash', but he could only make out a trembling lump on the floor, while there was an empty cage that read 'Kiteay.' A few more cages were strewn around with names, but empty. The test tubes held people inside, but there were no names that he could see.

Abby didn't seem to take note of Ed's bewilderment as she opened her green eyes. She glanced over at Ezra, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? How long have you been here and what all have they done to you?" she asked.

Ezra smirked at her and stood. Ed could see that he was quite tall. He had been sitting in the corner of his cage as if it were the most comfortable place in the world. "Trust me, you'll _like_ being in this cage compared to what they've got in store for you."

Abby sighed, closing her green eyes again. "I've been here for a year. Believe me, I know what kind of shit they do here..." she said, her hair suddenly growing down to waist-length to illustrate her point. Ed's eyes widened, though the girl seemed to be doing it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. It was almost like…Envy.

"What is this place…?" he asked.

"Honestly? It's an illegal lab in the middle of nowhere. Probably a place of some of the most hellish things imaginable," Abby replied.

Ed stared at her for a moment, then grabbed one of the bars to his cage and looked around. "Lab Five..." he muttered, the memories of that nightmarish place coming back to him. He began to look around for something, anything, to use to scratch a transmutation circle into the floor.

Ezra shrugged and leaned back against his cage bars before sliding down onto the ground, lifting up one knee and resting his elbow on it. He glanced at Ed. "There's nothing you could use here, kid. Not anything that's within reach anyway."

"Yeah. Don't bother trying. Don't you think we already have?" Tsuki asked, watching the blonde boy's futile attempts.

Ed looked from Ezra to Tsuki, then sighed, a frown on his face. "I'm not going to just give up hope getting out of here. Sorry, but I've got things I have to do. People to get back home to.." he explained.

"So selfish.. They'll break you of that, soon..." Tsuki said.

Ed looked over at her and glared. "I don't think so. I'm not going to be stuck in here. Besides...I've gotten out of worse situations than this..." he shot back. There had to be a way out. He couldn't stay here. He still had to find the Philosopher's Stone and get Al back to normal. But how...?

Ezra laughed. "So have I, but I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Well, all things considered, we don't even really know who he is, so whatever he's been in may have been more dire than the things you've been in," Abby said. She smirked. "I think I like this kid..." she commented, her hair shortening back to what he guessed was its normal length. She turned to Ed. "Abby O'Brien. I'd shake your hand, but we're kinda stuck in cages."

Ed nodded. "So I noticed..." he said, looking around. "I'm Edward Elric, a State Alchemist in the military. Also known as the FullMetal Alchemist," he introduced.

Ezra smirked. "So you're the one the hag was talking about..."

"Well, there's nothing metal about you now..." Tsuki said, rolling her eyes. "Though there might be, considering what scientist you end up getting first." Ed noticed the lump in Ash's cage shudder.

Ezra shrugged and looked up, as the staccato sound of heels tapped in the hall outside. "Stay sharp, newbie, the Hag's coming..." He smirked.

Ed glanced over at him and blinked, the lump in Ash's cage forgotten. He looked back at the door, dragging himself to the back wall of his cage to lean against so he would be less likely to fall over. "Who exactly is this hag...?" he asked.

Ezra shrugged. "You'll see." He nodded to the door as the knob turned and the door opened…

Author's Note-So it's not as good of a cliffhanger as I was planning, it still works. By the way, as I said earlier, I surprisingly didn't get the idea from the Lab Five episodes. The inspiration is actually from a roleplay I've got on Gaia Online. Now, to reply to the reviews…

Al'sGirl05-Yeah, Ed's been kidnapped. It was actually a bit of a pain figuring out how I was going to manage this, which is why the first chapter didn't end up as good as I hoped. After many kidnapping role plays and remembering the episode where Ed was captured by Barry the Chopper, though, I managed to come up with something.

Ominous Shadow-Thanks! With the help of my friends, I'm able to write this story much faster than planned, so hopefully you won't have to wait long for updates.

Ash the Twisted-I'm glad you could help me out. This story really a beta reader. –nodnod-

Raiyne Nagakura-Well, technically I'm not a first timer at writing. I've got practice with other fanfics and stories, but this was my first one to write that was just FullMetal Alchemist, and an impulsive idea at that. I'm not sure if I'm going to have any character deaths yet, but probably a lot of torture. As for the timeline, I'm thinking that it's probably going to be after the lab five incident, but before the character death. This is probably what you could call a little side story to FMA. –nods-

Sparky the Invisible Pyro-Thanks! The decent format comes from years of practice. I wasn't too sure what people would think with the idea since it's more of a side story to the actual timeline, but as I said earlier, the idea was gnawing at my brain. –grins and sweatdrops-

Pichu172B-Actually, I do watch Detective Conan, though I wasn't really thinking about that until you mentioned it. –grins- I actually do a lot of kidnapping role plays on Gaia, and I've always got a victim character who almost always ends up getting kidnapped by a kidnapper using either chloroform or a gun. Hence the chloroform idea.

IluvPiratesSavvy-Yeah, and not by very nice people, either. Like I said, be warned: this is gonna end up with probably a bit of character torture.

Well, I'll try getting the next chapter out soon. Please review-they always help motivate. Ja ne!


	3. Unwanted Plans

Author's Note-First off, the disclaimer. I think I've already said that I don't own most of the kids in the last chapter. I only own Abby. Maeva belongs to Mikomi and Theo belongs to Ash the Twisted. And as much as I wish I did, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Warning for language and violence and stuff. Thankies for all the reviews so far. –grins and nods- I said I'd get this out soon with more reviews, so enjoy the chapter.

* * *

A busty woman in a lab coat stepped in, shutting the door behind her. Her black hair was tied in a tight bun on the back of her head. She turned and looked at them for a moment before walking towards them. "Well, well, looks as if our new arrival has met the inmates..."

Ed glared at the woman, his amber eyes narrowing. He had just met this woman, and already he didn't like her.

Abby gave the woman a cold look, then looked away. Most of the scientists had been scared away by their escape attempts, hence the large amount of new scientists. But this one had stayed. Too bad.

She walked towards him and looked down at him through the bars of the cage, her icy blue eyes studying Ed. She smiled, but even the smile didn't make her seem like the nicest person. "Edward. It's nice to meet you." She continued to smile, showing sparkling white teeth. "I'm Maeva." She looked him up and down, her icy eyes giving him a cold look.

Tsuki looked over at her, then rolled onto her side away from the woman, almost nonchalantly as she closed her green eyes, her head propped up on one hand.

Ezra smirked and piped up, "This, kid, is the hag."

Maeva stopped, her eye twitching as she turned her head toward him, smiling. "I've got something special planned for you, today, Ezra. Don't feel too left out."

Ezra's smirked suddenly disappeared. "I wasn't supposed to be going anywhere today..."

Maeva smiled. "You are now."

Ezra glared at her. "Bring it on, you stupid old hag..."

Ed glanced over at Ezra, then back at Maeva, and smiled slightly, though the smile was a bit of a cross between that and a smirk as he tried to draw attention away from Ezra. Maybe she would forget about the others if they talked. "So, you know me. That means we don't really have to waste much time on acquaintances. How about letting me out of here, or at least giving me my arm and leg back?"

Maeva continued to smile as she turned and looked at Ed. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Edward." She walked towards a table and picked up a clipboard, flipping through the pages.

Ed looked back at Maeva. "Oh, c'mon. At the very least you could let me get up and stretch, maybe walk around a little bit..." he said. "Besides," he added, "those were hard to make. Winry would kill me if something happened to them."

Maeva looked up from the clipboard. Her smile had faded and her face expressed agitation. "Edward," she paused for a moment, her cold eyes glaring at him, "let me ask you a question..." She put the clipboard down and walked towards him, leaning over slightly to look him in the eye.

Ed frowned slightly and blinked. "Hm..?" he asked. Her eyes weren't _too_ unnerving...he had gotten almost used to it, considering some of the people he'd met before. But still..

Maeva's cold eyes continued to stare him down. "Do I look stupid to you?" Her eyes narrowed, almost challenging him.

Ezra smirked. "No, Maeva, but you do look ugly," he called over.

Maeva closed her eyes, her features tightening. "I never asked you, Ezra... For that I'm not going to use anesthetic."

Ezra glared at her and leaned back further against his cage, his knee sliding down, his arms crossed across his chest.

Ed watched, then looked away, frowning. Damn...he was hoping that she wouldn't know about his alchemy. How he could transmute without circles, so long as he had both of his arms. Now what...? His golden eyes narrowed as well. Best find out if what she knew was facts or simply rumors… "Just how much do you know about me...?" he asked.

Maeva smiled and opened her eyes, glaring at Ed slightly. "Enough." She gave him a smug look before walking back over to the counter, giving Ezra a smirk on her way.

Ezra glared at her and stuck his tongue out at her as she turned away from him.

Maeva picked up the clipboard and spoke without looking at him. "For that I should cut your tongue out, brat."

Ezra turned slightly pale and his tongue zipped back into his mouth, before he muttered, "No thanks.."

Ed frowned, watching. That didn't really answer his question. Just how much was 'enough'? He sighed in frustration. If only he had his arm and leg, he would dive right into battle. Even a simple screw would've helped for him to create a transmutation circle. But he didn't seem to have anything that could help...

He sighed, thinking back to his friends and brother. He wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious for, but surely they would know by now. Which reminded him… He closed his eyes. "Well, if you know enough about me, then you should know that I'm a State Alchemist. The military's going to come looking for me, and once you're found, they're not going to show any mercy," he said.

Maeva put down the clipboard and looked over at them before walking to the door and opening it. "It's something we look forward to, Edward," she replied. She smirked and glanced over them, her eyes glinting as she turned off the light and walked out. The only light in the nearly completely darkness came from the small window above the door.

Ed frowned. "Just what exactly is that supposed to mean? Surely she can't be that arrogant..." he wondered aloud. Did she really think they wouldn't be able to find him? He had complete faith in the military's tracking ability, especially if Hughes was put in charge of the investigation. The guy was a bit of an obsessive nutcase, no doubt about it, but he certainly wasn't a fool. So what was with the cocky attitude?

Ezra glanced at Ed, his eyes strangely luminescent in the dark. "They're not going to find you. This place is apparently so remote that even the military doesn't know it exists. But if I can get out of this damned cage, I could probably get you something to transmute with." He looked across the room at the small window, his eyes following the beams of white light that flooded onto the floor. Then he added, "You'd just have to take all of us with you…"

"Of course I would," Ed said, looking over at him. He blinked at Ezra's luminescent eyes for a moment, staring, then sighed and glared at the floor. "And I think I just got an extra boost of motivation. Putting up with that bastard colonel back at Central is enough. The last thing I want to do is put up with a sadistic female version of him..." he grumbled.

Ezra laughed and smirked. "Good then. I just have to wait for the hag to take me out of the cage."

Ed looked around. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark, but he could only make out basic shapes. Ezra's eyes were the only details that he could see clearly. "I suppose there's cameras around this place, so you can't exactly tell me your plan. What all can you do exactly? Some sort of alchemy, maybe? Or do you have any automail limbs..?" he asked.

Ezra looked at him, his eyes, the only thing visible to Ed and the others, seemed to glint slightly. "I've got speed. That's all I need."

Before Ed could reply, Tsuki snorted. "Yeah. If the guards don't use a tranquilizer on you again..." she said.

Ezra glared at her, his luminescent eyes narrowing. "That's not funny, Tsuki... That was only one time. I wasn't expecting them to pull out the chems on me..."

Tsuki sat up and looked over at him. "When do they _not_ if you try to resist?" she said, almost hypothetically. She thought for a moment. "Wait, that's right. Sometimes they just use stuff to temporarily paralyze you. Right..." She lay back down with a sigh.

Ezra raised an eyebrow at her, then turned back to Ed. "Either way, when she takes me out I'll get you something," he assured the blonde.

Ed nodded. "Thanks..." he said.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the observation room of the lab, Maeva smiled as she watched the screen in front of her flicker. On it was an image of their little lab rats, and their plotting voices sounded through the speaker. "They really think something as simple as that will work, eh?" She pressed a button on the keypad and the steady stream of voices from the room stopped.

A young man in probably his mid-twenties was standing behind her and watching. He had shaggy brown hair that went to about the base of his shoulders, pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck. He wore a set of small, rectangular glasses over stunning green eyes. Most would say that his figure was quite handsome, and his skin was tanned. He wore an old white lab coat and a name tag that read 'Theo Greenwood.'

"At least we don't have to worry about _my_ project. I think she's entirely under my control. Perfectly obedient," he said, pointing to a girl with fairly large, bat-like wings lying in a cage off in the corner. One of the wings was covered over her, so it was hard to make her out.

Maeva glanced at the girl, then down at Theo. "The rebellion can be a good thing. It gives me more of a chance to punish him," she said. She grinned sadistically, her cold eyes glinting. "The more he back-talks me, the more pain it is to himself. He's hurting himself. That's the best thing about it."

"I myself don't bother to wait until she does anything. I just experiment on her whenever I get a new idea. Or when I need to get rid of some stress…" Theo said with a shrug. He grinned slightly, maliciously. "Her fear and cries of pain are good to hear, and then as a bonus, I get paid."

Maeva shrugged. "There's that. But you don't get that with the boys. Not unless you really work for it." She smirked. "Boys are more fun than girls. You have to work for the fear."

He rolled his eyes. "I prefer the helplessness. Besides, I don't really know about immediate fear with some girls..." He pointed to Abby, who was leaning against the bars in the back of her cage, eyes closed. "You know that she's managed to scare away just about all of the scientists that have tried to work on her? The only one that actually managed was Doctor Lewis, who retired a few months ago. She hasn't left her cage for the past month because of that."

"We could always send a few volts of electricity through her, see how scary she is then," Maeva suggested.

Theo smirked. "Actually, that was what I was planning to do to Ash for the next experiment," he said.

Maeva smirked as well, her eyes focusing on Abby, "Maybe we should use Abby this time... Make her a little less eager to scare off our scientists..."

The brown-haired scientist shrugged. "If you want to," he said. "I won't stop you. Just let me schedule an appointment for Ash later."

Maeva nodded and smirked sadistically, "This will be quite a shock for little Ezra. I hope he's not too disappointed." She looked at the screen with mock worry.

"And what are we going to do about the boy?" Theo asked, glancing over at Ed. "Have we decided yet?"

Maeva shook her head. "But I know how to get rid of their little plan. Next time, I'll see to it that Ezra's little plan disappears," she said.

Theo closed his eyes. "I suppose so. It's too bad I can't add any prosthetic pieces to the new boy, though. He'd just use it for alchemy.." he said, sighing a bit in disappointment.

Maeva bit her lower lip. "I suppose. We should go down and see to our new project, shouldn't we?"

Theo nodded. "Sure," he agreed.

Maeva pressed a button on the keypad and looked up as the red light turned on before turning and walking out into the hall.

Author's Note-If there's any delay in the next chapter, it's because I may be gone over the weekend to visit relatives. If I don't get the next chappie out tomorrow, then it'll most likely be on Monday or at least Tuesday. Once again, thankies to all that have reviewed! Now to answer them. And remember, more reviews mean faster update time, so please review!

IluvPiratesSavvy-I agree. Just giving fair warning. –smiles and nods-

Pichu172B-Thanks! And yes, Detective Conan does rock. –grin-

Pheonix-maker-Ed ish one of my favorite characters-so easy to torture! –grins and nods-

Ash the Twisted-S'ok. I tend to get swamped in PMs myself sometimes… At least you got this chappie. Thanks for checking it. –nodnod-

Crazyanimefreak15-Don't worry, I probably won't kill Ed… Probably… -glanceglance- But poor Ed ish still gonna go through some torture…

Kayizzle-Thankies! Well, I'll probably have the next chapter up soon.


	4. Targeting

Author's Note-For the disclaimer, I only own Abby. All other characters so far are not mine. Many thanks to Kisike and Mikomi helping me write this and to Ash for beta reading. Also many thanks to the reviewers. –nodnod- I'm going to post this chapter a bit early, since I'll be gone for the weekend, but I'll be sure to have the next chapter up when I get back. So, enjoy!

* * *

Meanwhile, in the prison room, Ed blinked, looking up at the red light. "What's going on…?" he wondered.

Ezra looked up, his expectant look disappearing as he saw Theo. "Yeah... What is going on..? Why's that bastard here?"

Ed glanced over at Theo, then asked Ezra in a low voice, "Who's he..?"

Theo smirked. "What, now I'm a bastard for seeing my little sweetheart?" he mocked, nodding over at Ash. At that, the lump in Ash's cage shuddered again. "Besides, I wanted to meet the famous FullMetal Alchemist." He bent down to see eye-to-eye with Ed. "Whoever it was that made that automail was a genius. Very efficient. Tell me, who was it?"

Ed glared at the man, then looked away. "Yeah, like I'd tell you.."

Maeva smirked at Ed. "Her name is Winry," she responded.

Ed's eyes widened slightly, then glared. "Stay away from my friends!"

"Winry, huh?" Theo said, grinning at Ed's reaction. "I'll have to consider getting this girl. She probably likes automail so much, I bet she wouldn't mind if all her limbs were made of metal..."

Ed wrapped his hand around the nearest bar of his cage and tried raise himself to a stand. "You leave her alone..."

Ezra glared and stood up, his hands gripping the bars of his cage. "Leave his friends alone, you bastard. They have nothing to do with you!" he shouted.

Theo grinned. "On the contrary..." he said. He took out his scapel, touching a transmutation circle on the blade so it grew into a scythe. He swung it at Ezra's head, then stopped the tip right at his forehead and smirked. "Too bad you're Maeva's toy. It would be fun to play with you for awhile..."

Ezra's eyes narrowed as he snarled at him, "I'm no one's toy! And you don't fucking scare me you bastard! You probably can't even use that thing!"

"Why don't you ask Ash and find out?" Theo asked, nodding at Ash. The lump-which Ed could now see was a _wing_ covering probably a girl-was watching. She had lifted her wing slightly so one maroon eye could see what was going on. She had seen Theo and was whimpering in her cage, but was too weak to move. "I think you'll find that I'm quite skilled with it if you do."

Ezra continued to glare. "You sicken me..." He stopped for a minute before spitting at him.

Theo blinked, then glared. "Brat..." he growled, digging the scythe point into Ezra's forehead, not enough to break the skull, but enough to break the skin.

Ezra winced slightly but continued to glare, his golden eyes narrowed. "Keep that thing in my forehead, bastard. I've got plenty more insults."

Maeva rolled her eyes. "Leave him, Theo, you know he's only trying to get out of his cage," she said knowingly. She walked past him towards Abby's cage.

Theo shrugged, a menacing look in his eyes as he looked down at Ezra. "Not like I couldn't control him with my clarinet..." he said.

Abby looked up, then climbed to her feet and took a few steps back as she saw Maeva approaching. "What the hell do you want..?" she demanded.

Maeva smiled at her. "We want to play." She tilted her head slightly, pulling a whip out of her lab coat. "It'll be fun."

Ezra's eyes widened. "No! Maeva! It's me you want! Not her! You stupid old hag!" he cried.

Abby tensed, clenching her fists as her mind raced to remember all the karate lessons she had taken before ending up in the lab. "If you come near me, I won't hesitate to kill you, or at least seriously hurt you," she growled.

Maeva smiled as she stuck the whip through the bars, putting it under Abby's chin, and lifting her face to look her right in the eyes. "Is that so..?"

Abby grabbed the whip and gripped it tightly, moving her head a bit so it was no longer over the whip. "Yeah. It is."

Maeva smirked and pulled her forward towards the bars. "I'm not so easily scared, little Abby." Her eyes glinted as she looked smugly at her. "You can be as intimidating as you want. It's not going to work."

Abby smirked, her green eyes cold. "Good. You should've told us earlier that you were suicidal," she said.

Maeva glanced over at Theo then bent her whip back and pressed a button hidden in the handle. "Just as you should have told us," she told the girl. She smirked as the whip whined slightly and electricity suddenly sparked off of it.

Abby yelped, jumping back and clutching her burnt hand, narrowing her eyes at Maeva. "Why you.." While it was painful, it probably wouldn't feel as bad as it did if it hadn't caught her by surprise. Probably.

Maeva pulled the whip back and smirked. Theo watched, raising an eyebrow. Her defiance was annoying. They'd have to fix that… "What did I tell you…?" he asked.

Maeva shrugged. "It was easy enough. Not even Ezra would let go so easily."

Ezra glared at her, gripping the bars of the cage. "Maeva! Leave her alone! I'm the one you want to punish!"

Maeva glanced back at him before smirking at Abby. "Oh, but Abby's had a punishment coming to her for a long time. Yours will have to wait, my dear." She looked back at him. "And even then, you're not getting anything for you little alchemist friend."

Ed twitched. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE PIPSQUEAK THAT YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE UNDER A MICROSCOPE?.!" He tried to flail around, but that only ended up with him falling over. "Dammit!"

Maeva glanced at Ed. "Well, now I know how to get under the Alchemist's skin."

Ed continued to twitch. Theo laughed cruelly. "I think we've figured out several ways..." he said.

Abby glared coldly back at the scientists, not saying anything. She wasn't about to give them the benefit of fear or pain. Besides, she tended to have a high tolerance level for pain; she had grown up all her life getting into fights. Not to mention that once you've had your cells and DNA genetically altered for shapeshifting, you learn how to brace yourself.

Maeva looked at Theo. "Well then, we should probably get to work."

Ezra's eyes widen even further as he tried to shake the bars loose. "Leave her the fuck alone, you stupid old hag!"

Abby focused-not an easy thing to do, being A.D.D. Especially considering what was going on now. She didn't know if she could do this-she hadn't tried yet. But now was probably as good of a time as any. The coloration in her eyes, skin, and hair began to swirl, then take on the black and red colors of the room. She began to blend in with the background, like a chameleon. The only thing giving her away was her clothes, but like this, at least she could perhaps avoid them seeing her limbs, giving them less of a chance to catch her.

Maeva glanced at her, then looked at Theo. "Theo.." she started.

Theo transmuted his scythe back into a scalpel and took out his clarinet. Abby's eyes widened.

"Shit...!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears as he raised the instrument to his lips and began to play.

Ed frowned. What the…? Why did his head feel strange all of a sudden…? He felt almost…tired… His eyelids drooped about halfway, his eyes blank.

Ezra suddenly stopped shaking the bars of his cage, his eyes, half open, staring blankly in front of him, his arms falling limp at his sides. Apparently, whatever was effecting Edward was also taking effect on the other boy, as well.

Maeva smirked as she glanced around at them.

Meanwhile, Tsuki rolled her eyes, sitting up with her hands firmly over her cat ears. "For the love of god, could you please shut that thing up?" When nobody seemed to take notice of her request, she began to look for something to throw at Theo, despite the fact that she knew it would probably get her in trouble.

Maeva finally gave a glance at Tsuki, but then merely rolled her eyes and pulled a syringe out of her pocket, glancing at Theo. Theo also glanced over at Tsuki, then rolled his eyes as well and continued to play. They both knew that there was nothing nearby that would be effective, unless she wanted to start throwing her own clothes.

Maeva moved over behind Abby's cage and attached the syringe to her whip. Abby had just about figured her plan, though. She turned, keeping an eye on Maeva. She would be fine dealing with Theo so long as she kept her hands over her ears. It was Maeva she was wary about for now.

Maeva smiled, before starting to put the whip into the cage. Abby's eyes widened and she began to back away to the other side of the cage. Great. She hated needles. Those were among her few fears, though probably one of the weakest ones.

Maeva grinned at her fear. "Come now, Abby. Come a little closer." She stuck the needle further into the cage towards her.

The redhead backed away, glaring. "Go to hell," she snapped. Her eyes widened when her back suddenly hit the wall of the cage. "Oh no..." she whispered. Maeva suddenly pressed the needle at her, towards her arm. Abby winced as the needle pierced her arm and tried to jerk it back. "No!" she shouted. Maeva pushed towards her again, pushing the liquid into her arm and pulled the needle back, smirking.

The young shapeshifther took a step forward, clenching her fists as her vision began to blur and her body suddenly felt quite heavy. Her knees buckled. "Damn it..." she whispered before her collapsing to the floor. Maeva smiled and looked at Theo, nodding. Theo lowered his clarinet and opened the cage, walking in to pick up her limp form.

Maeva smiled. "We'll have to do this more often. Maybe then she'll be easier to get hold of."

Theo straightened, the young girl in his arms. "We just need to hire more guards and get them off their lazy asses to do their jobs," he said. "Budget cuts, you know?"

Maeva laughed. "Less money, for more work."

Ed was one of the first to snap out of hit. He shook his head, trying to clear the fuzzy blanket over his mind. "What the.." he muttered. His focus began to return and he looked over. "Hey! Put her down, you monsters!" he shouted.

Maeva glanced over him. "Shut up, pipsqueak."

Ed glared. "Quit it with the short jokes already and just let her go! She didn't even say anything while we were arguing with you-she hasn't done anything to deserve whatever you're planning!"

Ezra blinked, his eyes returning to normal as he looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Theo holding Abby. "Hey! Let her go!"

Maeva smiled a mysterious smile. She looked at Theo and nodded towards the door. "We'll see you boys later."

Ed glared. "Hey!" he yelled. "Don't just ignore me!" He clenched his fists, feeling totally helpless. A feeling he wasn't used to, and a feeling that he disliked very much.

Theo nodded and glanced at Ed. "Don't worry, kid. You'll have your turn," he said as he walked out. Maeva glanced back at the boys and then walked after him.

"MAEVA!" Ezra shouted after her, but was only met with the slamming of the door and darkness. He cursed and gripped the bars before falling back and hitting the back of his head against the barred cage wall. "Dammit!" He continued to hit his head against the bars. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!"

Ed watched, frowning with worry. He tried focusing his mind on finding a way out, but his worry was getting in the way. He growled in frustration. Finally he sighed, looking up at the ceiling and frowning. _Al...Hughes...and you, colonel bastard...please find us and get here soon..._ he thought.

* * *

Author's Note-Hm.. Like I said, I may not be able to post over the weekend, so if not, I'll try to on either Monday or Tuesday. –nodnod- Thanks for all the reviews by the way. And now to respond…

Crazyanimefreak15-You'll see… -evil grin-

Sweet Elixir-You think so, too? Mikomi and I knew it wouldn't be long before Ezra started getting fans, lol…

Crimson Crystals-Heheh, because cliff hangers are always fun and evil. –grin-

Ash the Twisted-I forgot to change it before posting. –smiles and sweatdrops- I'll be sure to scan the next chapter more thoroughly…

Nonesofar-Depends. Sometimes the prisoners go long periods of time before getting anything to eat. But you'll see.


	5. Stolen Attempts

Author's Note-I am back! …Sorry for the delay, things have been complicated over here… -sigh- Anyways, thankies to Mikomi and Kisike for helping me write this, and Ash the Twisted for beta reading. –nodnod- As for the disclaimer, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, nor do I own Theo, Maeva, Tsuki, Ezra, Ash, and Kiteay. I only own Abby. Now, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Theo walked in, looking around. At this point, Abby began to twitch, her green eyes opening slightly.

Maeva walked over to a table and looked up at Theo. "Put her down... Before she wakes up."

Theo nodded and laid her down on the table. Abby could hear them, though faintly. She felt too weak to move, at least, right now. _What are they doing now...?_ she wondered quietly. "What are you doing to me…?"

Maeva reached over Abby and strapped her onto the table with various straps and buckles. She tightened the straps and locked the buckles.

Maeva looked down at Abby and smiled. "Nothing, dear... Yet."

She frowned a bit, her eyes clouded with confusion. Her mind was still slightly hazy, trying to clear up. She tried moving slightly but found that she couldn't. "What the...?"

Maeva looked down at her, still smiling. "Don't try to move dear, I might have to make the straps tighter," she warned.

"Straps...?" She tried looking up, but her head felt heavy. It fell back to the table. _C'mon, you've got to clear your head. Think of a way out of this!_ she thought. Right..straps...so she just had to slip out of them somehow...

Maeva reached under the table and picked up two small bars. "Theo, would you kindly press that button over there?"

_Wait.._ She thought, looking over at Theo, who was walking over to the button. _I'm a shapeshifter...right..._ Nearly subconsciously, her body began to shrink, her ankles and wrists becoming easy to slip from the bonds. Looking like a small child, she began to sit up and slip off the table, but ended up tripping. She quickly jumped to her feet and began stumbling towards the door. Her green eyes caught a silver glint on the counter next to the door. A scalpel…?

Maeva quickly picked Abby up and looked back at Theo. "Quickly!"

As soon as Abby was touched, she began to shapeshift to a much bigger form, one of at least six feet with an athletic figure. It would be harder to hold onto. Theo looked over and pushed the button as Abby started to pull away again. "Let go..!" Abby protested.

Maeva quickly touched Abby's arm with the stick as electrical energy began to flow through the tip of it. "Stay still!"

Abby's emerald eyes widened as she stiffened and gasped, her face going pale. Maeva pressed the bar harder against Abby's arm, holding onto her, feeling the electricity flow through her body. Abby twitched and jerked involuntarily, her vision beginning to blur.

Abby closed her eyes trying to hold back tears and biting back a yell. As she bit her lip, she could faintly taste blood. Her heart raced and she was starting to find it hard to breath. Her knees buckled and hit the floor hard. Her very cells seemed to be tingling. It reminded her…reminded her of the DNA and cell structure modifications Doctor Lewis had done to her. Those painful damned operations and experiments that stretched over six months, practically done every day. Theo stood off to the side, watching in amusement and thinking of when he'd be doing this to his own victim.

Maeva took the stick away from her arm and readjusted her grip on Abby. "Are you ready to be a good little girl, now?"

"Sc-screw you..." Abby managed to grind out, not opening her eyes to stop any possible tears.

Maeva smiled, and moved the stick towards Abby's cheek. "Are you sure you want to be bad mouthing me, young lady?"

She opened her eyes slightly and winced, then closed them again slightly. "Do what you wish; I don't care," she whispered harshly.

Maeva glared at her and put the stick down, then slammed her onto the table, holding the stick up. "Maybe we need some more voltage."

"Just try it…and you can't use anything against me, either. Everything's been taken from me…" Abby whispered.

Maeva smiled. "I hardly believe that's true. We could pull out your file. We were hired to make your worst dreams come true, Abby. We intend to do what we're paid for." She reached under the table and pulled out another stick and put it to the tip of the other. The two sticks sparked with electricity.

She closed her eyes and winced, a faint whimper managing to escape her lips. She bit her lip. No. No weakness, no fear. She wouldn't give them the pleasure of her suffering. She remembered the scalpel, their only hope. It was so close and yet so far. If only she could get it to Edward, he could free all of them. But how would she get to it…? And that's when an idea came to mind…

Theo watched, then smirked. "I think she's broken," he said, crossing his arms and nodding.

"..." Abby remained silent. Instead she merely looked away and didn't reply.

Maeva narrowed her eyes slightly at Abby and touched the twin sticks to her arms. A cry escaped Abby and she whimpered again, a tear clinging to the corner of one of her eyes.

Maeva pulled them back and glanced up at Theo. "Then let's make her show it."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Maeva smirked. "Pain always brings out the worst in people." Her cold eyes looked up at him, a pleasure shimmering in the blue of her iris. "So let's bring out her worst."

"Careful. We wouldn't want to kill her," Theo said. "She's a good specimen for more experiments, after all. We wouldn't want that to be wasted, at least. Besides, I think I've got a new experiment in mind that I could use her in…"

"Please, enough. I'll stop.." Abby whispered.

Maeva raised an eyebrow and held the twin sticks in front of her face, touching them together, the spark reflecting off her icy blue eyes as she watched Abby.

The redhead winced and whimpered, clenching her fists as she seemed to recoil.

Maeva glanced up at Theo. The man shrugged in response. "She seems to be expressing the same reactions as Ash, now..." He nodded with satisfaction. "I think she'll be behaving from now on..." He smirked.

Maeva nodded and lowered the sticks. "Go ahead and turn down the voltage." Theo nodded and walked over to the machine, turning the voltage down. He was pleased at the pained whimpers coming from the shrinking and twitching girl that lay on the table. There wasn't any more pleasurable sound than the ones of a newly broken spirit.

Maeva took her whip out of her lab coat and picked Abby up. "Are we ready to go back now, Abby, dear?"

"I can walk..." Abby said weakly, going back into normal form that continued to twitch just slightly and breaking away. She tried staggering to the door, but lost her balance and nearly collapsed, only keeping herself from falling down entirely by grabbing onto the counter.

Maeva laughed and followed her. "Whatever you say, dear." She glanced back at Theo. "I'll take her back to the lab..."

Theo nodded and started setting up for his next experiment. Abby weakly stood again and stumbled out, heading back to the prison room.

Maeva followed closely behind her. She opened the handle of the whip and pressed the button, then smirked as the whip buzzed with the electricity. Her cold eyes looked down at Abby. The redhead whimpered and quickened her pace a bit. Maeva smiled as they approached the room. "Such a good girl..."

Abby winced inwardly. Both her body and her pride were in a world of hurt.

But at least now she had the scalpel.

* * *

Ezra stood up as the door opened. "Abby?.!"

Ed looked up as Abby walked back into her cage and collapsed. "Abby!" he exclaimed.

Tsuki sat up and looked over, frowning with concern. She hated to see the others being treated like animals, but what all could they do?

Maeva smirked as she looked at the concern in the others' eyes. Ezra glared up at her, and all but growled, "What the hell'd you do?.!"

Ed glared at Maeva as well, growling. "You sick, twisted witch! She didn't do anything!"

Maeva turned to him and smirked. "Well, Edward, if you keep yelling, I could just as easily do it to you." Ed could only glare daggers at her in response. The scientist turned to look at Ezra. "It's not like it's not already planned for him." Her eyes went back to Ed. "But you're not getting your little trinket." She smirked.

Ed blinked. "Trinket? You mean my automail..?"

Maeva glanced at the blonde, giving Ezra a glare. "I mean whatever little trinket Ezra was planning on picking up for you."

"Dammit…!" Ed growled.

Ezra glared. Maeva walked over to Ezra, giving him a pouty look. "Now, now, little Ezra, don't give me that look." She put the whip through the bars and touched it to his jaw. The whip sparked then continued to buzz, sending electricity through him.

Ezra winced and pulled back.

"Stupid hag!"

"Leave them alone!" Ed shouted.

Maeva looked up at Ed and didn't say anything, just looked, her eyes staring straight at him. Ed glared back with equal intensity, his amber eyes glowering back defiantly.

Ezra suddenly reached forward and grabbed her whip, but instantly regretted it. The electricity shot through his arms, but he kept his grip on it, wincing slightly, grinding his teeth. _If I can get it..._

Maeva looked over at Ezra, breaking her stare at Ed and shoved the whip into his stomach, sending another bolt through his whole body. She smirked as his eyes clouded over and his grip loosened. She pulled the whip out of the bars and smiled at him. "Dear, dear, Ezra. It doesn't work that way."

Ezra merely looked up at her, holding his stomach before falling down onto his knees, gasping for breath. "St-Stupid h-hag..."

"Ezra!" Ed exclaimed. His hold tightened around the bar he had been gripping and he glared at Maeva.

Ezra glanced over at Ed. "I'm fine." He looked back at Maeva. "Go play with your stupid whore toy somewhere else. We want no part of it." He stood again, taking a deep breath as he glared at Maeva, almost daring her to stick the whip into the cage again.

"Ezra, that's enough. Don't keep giving her reason to hurt you..." Abby said in a dull, quiet voice as she sat up and leaned her back against the bars. _In other words, don't get yourself killed or taken away before she leaves so we can escape before something happens to Edward…_

Ezra glared at Abby. "You shouldn't give in to her so easily! She can't kill us! And whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger."

Maeva smiled and walked over to the counter. "I think Ezra needs a time out." She pressed a button on the keypad on the wall above the one of the tables.

Ezra's eyes widened in surprise as his cage gave a sudden shuddering lurch. He looked around as the cage began to lower itself into the ground. "What the..."

Ed's eyes widened. Abby straightened and looked over as well, her green eyes wide and suddenly somewhat alert. _Idiot…!_ she thought.

"What are you doing?.!" Ed demanded to the scientist.

Maeva smiled and walked over, the whip hanging at her side. "There comes times when I get tired of hearing Ezra's little mouth. This is merely a new feature. The cage will go all the way down and floor will close over him. He'll be left in pitch black darkness until he's ready to come out."

Ezra glared up at her as the cage continued to lower. "I'll get you for this you-" He was cut off as the cage lowered completely down and the floor shut over him.

Ed couldn't believe these people… This place was insane...

Author's Note-Once again, sorry for taking so long. Thanks for all the reviews so far! More reviews lead to faster updates! –grins and nods- Now, to respond to the latest…

Kayizzle-Aiiie! Don't land on meee! –ducks for cover-

Taiyoukai-Okibi- Yeah, they took the watch away, too. Everything from his automail to his everyday clothes was taken. Heh, I was wondering how well this fanfic would turn out since I'd never seen the idea done before. Glad you like it. –smile-

Pichu172B-Heh. Well, don't worry. Colonel Bastard ish going to make an appearance after a couple more chapters, chapters, though his first won't exactly be a large one… -grins and sweatdrops- But don't think I'm going to leave him out; he'll be getting involved soon enough. –nodnod-

Ash the Twisted-Thankies! I'll have the next chapter sent in quite soon. –nodnod-


	6. Impulsive choices

Author's Note-Let's see, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, or Maeva, or Theo, or Ezra, and Tsuki. And Aiden ish another character of Kisike's. Basically, I only own Abby. Thankies to Mikomi and Kisike for helping me to write this and to Ash the Twisted for beta reading. -nodnod- And thankies to everyone that's reviewed so far! Now, here's the next chapter...

* * *

Maeva laughed unpleasantly as she watched the silver-haired prisoner disappear.

"Please… Let him out…" Abby whispered.

Maeva grinned at her. "Perhaps I should get Theo again so we can introduce you to the electricity a second time."

Abby recoiled. "No…please…" she whimpered.

Ed's eyes widened. "You _electrocuted_ her…?.! On how many volts?.!" He heard Abby whimper again and saw Maeva smirk. "You bitch…!"

Maeva smirked as she crossed her arms. "You're not doing yourself any favors, kid."

Tsuki blinked slowly and slid down in the back of her cage, hugging her knees to her chest. She glanced at Ed solemnly, eyebrows raised. "It's best to stay quiet," she murmured, smiling slightly.

"What? And let them get away with something like this?.!" Ed demanded.

Maeva walked over to him, her whip sparking with electricity. Ed's eyes widened, but before he could pull back, she jammed it into his chest. As he yelped, she pulled it away.

Tsuki closed her eyes and let a tiny smirk slip across her lips. "Told you so."

"That's quite right…" a man purred from the door. He stood there, eyes glowing yellow. He stood at 6'8, skin tanned a light brown, hair spiked and bright red. His name tag read 'Aiden.' He smirked, flashing pearly white canines. "So this is Edward…"

Ed looked up at the man, wincing. He tried to maintain his balance as his left hand gripped the burn on his chest. "Just who the hell is this freak…?" he demanded.

Aiden frowned down at Ed. "Child. If you keep talking, I'll take your other limbs." He smirked absently, running a hand through his hair.

Tsuki mrowled softly in the back of her throat, scooting hesitantly to the front of her cage, staring up at Aiden with wide eyes. She watched Ed's eyes widen and the boy nearly lose his balance.

Ed glanced over at her. _If I lose all my limbs, I'm going to be in a pretty sorry state when actually making my escape…_ he thought. He looked back up at the scientist. "You _do_ know that the military will find and arrest you, right? And they don't show convicts mercy."

Maeva chuckled, looking over at Aiden. "I told him, we'll be welcoming them when they come," she said. The military would never come; the location was far too remote.

Meanwhile, Tsuki mrowled again and got up on her knees, wrapping her hands around the bars of her cage, pressing her cheek to another.

Aiden gave a deep, throaty laugh and moved to stand beside Tsuki's cage, still looking at Ed. "If the FullMetal Alchemist was helpless against us…what good would even an army do, anyways? Hm?" He grinned, looking down at Tsuki as she batted at his hand.

"Don't get arrogant! Your guys snuck up on me!" Ed snapped. "Besides, they're not going to fall into some trap!" He glared up at Aiden.

Aiden gave another laugh, smiling brightly. "We'll break you of that spirit soon, child." He left his spot beside Tsuki's cage to stand in front of Ed's, crossing his arms. "And I think we'll start right now." He looked up and glanced at the other scientist. "Shall we?"

Maeva nodded. "Sure," she agreed eagerly.

Ed frowned. "What do you plan to do with me…?" he demanded. He'd survived human transmutation, Scar, stab wounds, gashes, the homunculi… He had seen and experienced much more than any kid his age should've. And yet, such a thing had made him much stronger, too. He couldn't possibly think of anything that would affect him enough to break his spirit, unless they had his younger brother or one of his friends being held hostage, and he seriously doubted that.

"No…please, don't hurt him…" Abby begged the two scientists. Her efforts were probably futile, but it was worth a shot. _No! It's too soon!_ she thought.

"Theo," Adien murmured, turning to look up at the camera. He knew Theo was watching from the observatory room. "If you wouldn't mind coming down here and playing us a tune…?" He smirked, arching a brow.

Tsuki frowned and stood up, dusting herself off absently.

Ed frowned, remembering what had happened last time. He put one hand over one ear, then let himself fall to the floor so he could use it to muffle the noise. "Dammit. Not again…"

Theo walked into the room. He grinned and pulled out his clarinet. "Of course…"

Abby clapped her hands over her ears and no longer looked pitiful, but seemed to be struggling with a decision.

Tsuki frowned at Abby, then slowly put her hands over her pointed cat hears, glancing at Ed.

Aiden smirked, putting one hand on his hip. "Do hurry, Theo," he grumbled, spinning a ring of keys on his fingers.

Theo raised the clarinet to his lips. Abby glared. "Dammit! No choice… Ed!" A scalpel slid across the floor and over to Ed's cage. Ed looked up and glanced over at Abby as she grinned. He pushed himself up and reached for the scalpel. It was a slim chance, possibly their only chance. Still…they had to try…

Tsuki let out a loud mrowl and clung to the bars of the cage, clawing at the air, eyes wide.

Ed grabbed the scalpel. "Damn, do you really think I can draw a transmutation circle that quickly?.!" he demanded, starting to scratch a circle into the concrete while recalling the formulas. It had been so long since he had actually needed a circle, but…what respectable alchemist could ever forget how? As he did, Theo began to play. Ed winced, trying to block it out, but it was so hard. Like a hazy cloud rolling over his brain…

Abby watched the scalpel slide out of Ed's hand and clatter to the ground. "No! Dammit, Ed! Fight it!" she yelled.

Aiden frowned deeply and started towards Ed's cage, yellow eyes narrowing as he flipped a key between his fingers. "Edward... You don't want to do anything stupid.." he purred soothingly, though every word held a tinge of malice.

Tsuki hissed softly and rolled to the front of her cage, ears back as she thrust her arm through the bars of the cage, wrapping a hand firmly around the handle of Maeva's whip, snatching it off of her hip and rolling backwards into the back of the cage, huddling around the whip like it was something precious; though the charge was keeping her mind clear of that horrid tune.

Maeva glanced down at Tsuki and rolled her eyes, glancing at Theo, then looking down at Aiden and Edward.

Ed's eyelids drooped about halfway, in a daze.

Abby glared. "Snap out of it, Edward! Think about your friends and your family! Think about..." She searched her mind. She hardly knew anything about Edward, the FullMetal Alchemist, whatever. But she did recall... "Think about Winry! You have to stay conscious, Ed! You have to get back to her! Don't let her down!" she shouted.

_"Edward..."_ Winry's voice...it was ringing out through Ed's mind. His eyes frowned slightly as his mind struggled to come out of the haze surrounding it.

Aiden's frown deepened as he unlocked the cage door and stepped in, calmly picking up the scalpel and glaring down at Ed. "That will be quite enough."

Maeva reached into her lab coat and pulled out a small remote device. She pressed a button and glanced over at Tsuki as the buzzing of the whip grew louder, the amount of conductivity and electricity growing greater.

Tsuki's eyes widened as she glanced down at the whip and she hissed, rolling to her knees and unraveling the whip. "ED! YOU SHORT FUCK!" She snapped the whip out, smirking as it wrapped around Ed's thigh. She fumbled for the button on the handle, baring her fangs as she pressed it, even though she didn't need to. "WAKE UP!"

Maeva grabbed the whip with thick rubber gloves and pulled it up, pulling Tsuki forward. "That will be quite enough."

Ed suddenly blinked as it processed, then suddenly snapped out of it as he glared death at Tsuki. He hardly even seemed to notice the electricity through his anger... "WHAT?.! WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY ELECTRON THAT IS SO SMALL THAT HE COULD POSSIBLY NOT EVEN EXIST?.!" he shouted as he flailed around. "JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET OUT OF THIS CAGE! I'LL CUT OFF YOUR FEET AND THEN WE'LL SEE WHO'S SO SMALL!"

Abby blinked, then smiled slightly. "That worked..." she said.

Maeva glanced up and looked at Ed, pulling the whip even more as it unraveled away from him and then turned to look back at Tsuki. "Someone's been a bad girl..." She grinned sadistically as she began to pull the whip.

Tsuki hissed and spat, spinning slightly to brace her feet on the bars of the cage, keeping a firm grip on the handle as she pushed her legs straight, pulling Maeva closer to her cage, or making her hands slid closer to the end of the whip. "Don't talk to me like that you old bitch," Tsuki growled, by then nearly hanging parallel to the floor of her cage as she leaned back.

Aiden sighed heavily and stepped out of Ed's cage, slamming the door behind him (which automatically locked) and stalking over to Maeva. "If you would cut the power down, I'll take care of this," he assured

Maeva glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, but then suddenly let completely go of the whip, pulling out her remote and turning down the voltage.

Theo blinked and lowered his clarinet, seeing with a bit of disappointment and frustration that it was no longer having any effect on the boy.

Ed glared as Aiden growled and caught the whip at about the middle, frowning at Maeva. "That's not what a meant," Aiden said. He turned very slowly to stare down at Tsuki, a small smirk across his lips. "If you do not bend your legs up in the next five seconds, I will break them." He spoke very softly, arm muscles tensing and bulging beneath his sleeve. "Or you could simply let go and take a less harsh punishment."

Tsuki blinked slowly, eyes still narrowed though she had to perk her ears up to hear him. She hissed and bent her legs up, and the next thing she knew, she was pulled face first into the bars of her cage, hitting with an impact that rocked the cage off the floor momentarily. Aiden stood up straight, tossing the whip to Maeva and flexing his right hand, turning away from Tsuki's cage as she slumped down, bleeding freely from a gash across her forehead. "I trust nothing like this will ever happen again. And if you don't agree with me right now...it will only take several hours to change your minds."

Ed's eyes widened. "Tsuki..!"

"Bastard..." Abby growled, glaring at Aiden.

Maeva smiled and caught her whip by the handle, pressing the button and turning off the voltage. She raised an eyebrow at Tsuki and blinked suddenly as the floor above Ezra's cage shuddered and moved to the side.

Ezra looked up. "Finall- Dammit!" He immediately closed his eyes, putting his hands up to shield them from the bright light emitted from the window above him as the cage lifted itself.

"Looks like timeout's over for our little troublemaker," Maeva said as she looked down at the cage as it came up.

Aiden frowned and arched an eyebrow at Maeva, walking away from the cages to a table, running a hand through his spiky red locks. "Looks like your weapon is becoming somewhat trivial, Theo."

Theo raised an eyebrow, then closed his eyes and smirked. "I've still got my alchemy, so at least I can still shed blood in great amounts," he said, his finger moving over to a transmutation circle etched on a small scalpel he had in his hand, which suddenly transmuted into a scythe.

Ezra stood, hearing the voices of the scientists, the light still too bright for him to open his eyes. The cage gave a shuddering lurch as it stopped moving and Ezra stumbled over into the bars. "What the hell's going on..?"

Abby looked over at Ezra. "Aiden's here and he's trying to take Ed," she explained.

Aiden blinked slowly, smirking.

"That son of a bitch is here?" Ezra asked, still apparently not having learned his lesson for his mouth. He opened his eyes in a squint, trying to regain his vision and see what's going on around him.

"Yeah. He is..." Abby sighed.

Ezra smirked slightly, seeing the figures of Aiden and Theo. "Good, while you're both here, I want to know which one of you gave the whore bad sex and made her into this cold hearted bitch?"

* * *

Author's Note-Heh. And _this_ is where I may have to consider upping the rating for language and violence…still debating, though. Anyways, thankies for the reviews and here's my replies…

Ash the Twisted-Thankies! –grin-

Crazyanimefreak15-Heh… Well, it was mostly by a stroke of luck. Of course, Abby's been stuck in that lab for about a year with not much else to do except wait for certain doom. –nodnod-

The Teenage Writer- Thanks! -smiles and sweatdrops- Yes, poor Ed. I recommend you get out a box of tissues soon, cause Ed ish going to get hurt. –nodnod-

Pichu172B- o.o;; Oh my.. Well, I guess we can't love everyone… -grin- And yep! The story just wouldn't be complete without Colonel Bastard's debut. –nodnod-

Psychofullmetalfan-Thanks! Hm…I doubt I'm going to actually _kill_ Ed, but I can't really promise the safety of other characters. Then again, who knows…? -grin-

Taiyoukai-Okibi-I tend to have that problem, too, sometimes. –nods and sweatdrops- Oh, and I intend to have the next chapters out quite quickly. –smile-

IloveJesus7390-Thankies! Well, like I said, I update quite quickly, you don't have to wait long. –smile-

Sniper Hawkeye-Dark stuff rocks. Then again, that's my angst side speaking. –grins and nods-

Reis1gurl-Thanks! Peace out, lol. –grin-


	7. Loss

Author's Note-First off, the disclaimer. I own none of the characters except Abby. Ezra, Ash, Tsuki, Kiteay, Maeva, Theo, and Aiden don't belong to me, and neither does FullMetal Alchemist. Thankies to Kisike and Mikomi for helping me write this, and to Ash the Twisted for beta reading. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Maeva glared over at Ezra, a nerve in her temple twitching. Theo, meanwhile, looked over at Ezra, gripping his scalpel tightly. 

Aiden blinked slowly, then smirked and walked over to stand a few feet in front of Ezra's cage. "Listen to me you little shit. No matter how much you run that dirty little mouth of yours, we aren't going to kill you until we have to stab you to get you to make a noise. Understand?" he told the boy.

Ezra glared at Aiden. "Only cowards wish for death as a way out of Hell. I plan on getting the hell out of here." He opened his eyes a little more and grinned at Aiden, tilting his head to the side. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, coward?" Ezra shot back. He took a moment, moving his jaw back and forth before spitting at Aiden. "Son of a bitch scum, get the hell out of my face."

Theo growled, taking a step towards Ezra's cage as he glared. "Little punk..." he started.

Aiden smirked and stood up straight, popping his back. "We can have all the arguments you want, but the fact is..none of you are getting out of here. And the next one who tries to escape..will get their knee caps split in two."

"Yeah, as if you weren't planning to do that to us already..." Abby commented dryly.

Ezra glared at Aiden, his eyes reflecting an intense loathing, his irises turning a small shade of red. "I dare you to fucking try it, bitch," he snapped to the scientist.

Maeva glanced over at Ezra and walked towards Aiden, handing him a rather large square remote. "Why not prove to little Ezra you mean business? Try out some of the new toys I've installed." she suggested.

Ezra smirked mischievously. "So, it was Theo then who gave the whore bad sex..." he said as he continued to smirk and glanced over at Theo.

Theo twitched, then smirked. "I wouldn't mind giving another experiment wings. Only, why not on the head? It would be impossible to hide if I make them large enough. Then there would be no point in going out into society. You would just get treated the same way as you do here, perhaps even worse.." he started.

Ezra glared. "I don't need society. Anything would be better than this Hellhole. Go ahead and give me wings. I'll fly away from here once I get loose. Maybe I'll pick up a bomb from a government lab and drop on your giant fucking head. It'd be hard to miss even from 5,000 feet in the air," he shot back.

Ed glanced over at him and smirked. "Don't worry about it. Just be sure to go to Colonel Mustang aka Colonel Bastard and say it's a request from me," he said. "I'm sure he'll _give_ you a bomb."

Theo laughed. "You both are morons. Even if I made the wings big enough to fly with, it'd be impossible since your bones aren't hollow."

Ezra grinned. "You'd be surprised. I've been experimented on enough, maybe someone did it," he said as he looked at Theo challengingly.

Maeva rolled her eyes, walking between Ed and Ezra's cage. She glanced back at Theo and Aiden before leaning against the wall, watching Ezra closely.

Meanwhile, Aiden hummed softly as he scanned over the multitude of buttons on the remote, eyes bright and shining like a child on Christmas morning. "Which one... Which one..." he muttered. He pressed a button near the center and looked up as glass filled in the space between the bars on Ezra's cage and slid over the bottom. A tiny box popped out of the top of the cage and a green mist flowed from it. It smelled of day, week, month old corpses rotting in smoldering heat, and would bring the image of tiny white worms wriggling to and fro in a chunk of flesh to anyone's mind. Ezra tried to breathe through his nose, but the smell only seemed to coat the back of his throat and tongue, making it all the more disgusting.

His eyes widened, his hands flying to his nose, his eyes watering as he looked around frantically. Maeva smiled and looked over at Aiden. "I thought you'd like it," she said as she smiled. "Why not press the fifth button to the left on the second row? The blue one... We can mix two and two together..." Aiden arched a brow, but pressed the specified button, glancing up to Ezra's cage.

Ezra eyes widened even more as the gas suddenly stopped, but was still trapped within the glass. He stood there for a moment; his hands over his nose and mouth, wondering what the hell he did before the cage suddenly shuddered and lurched to the side, sending him flying into the glass. Ezra slid down against the glass as the gas drained slowly from the cage through the floor, the smell lingering around him. He slid down onto his knees before the cage gave another, larger lurch, sending him flying back into the glass. Aiden wondered briefly if Ezra would toss his cookies all over the cage.

"Stop it! That's enough!" Ed shouted. He put a hand on the transmutation circle (which was only 3/4ths finished) and hoped it would work enough to do some good. The ground under Abby's cage suddenly twitched slightly, then moved up a little as a lump. The side of the cage was lifted slightly, but enough.

"What the..." Abby demanded.

"Pull it up! Try to knock the cage over!" Ed exclaimed.

Abby blinked at him, then grinned. "Thanks, Edward," she said, running over to the side of the cage and wrapping her hands around the bottom.

Ed nodded. "Find me my automail arm and toss it to me once you're out," he advised.

Abby nodded. "Right." She began to pull up, straining against the weight of the steel cage. Inch by inch, it began to lift.

Maeva glanced over at Ed and pulled out her whip, pressing the button as she does so, and throwing the whip at him, grinning as it wrapped around his waist. "Oh, Edward..." she started. She pulled the button out of her lab coat and turned the voltage up. Ed blinked, his eyes widening as he froze. He cried out, the whip burning into his waist as the electricity shot through his whole body. Maeva waited a moment, turning the voltage up slowly before pulling the whip away, spinning him back into the bars of his cage. "Why don't we behave now?"

Ed hit the bars of the cage, wincing.

Meanwhile, Ezra's cage suddenly gave another lurch forward, the glass cracking as Ezra's face hit it with increased force.

Abby glanced over at the two, then strained a bit more to try to lift up the cage.

Aiden frowned and walked calmly over to Abby's cage, staring down at her. "And what do you think you're doing..?" he asked. He smirked and pressed the same button as before, glass beginning to wrap around the bars of Abby's cage and under it, the glass creating a floor.

Abby's hands jerked back as she glared at Aiden. "Bastard..." she growled.

Ezra's eyes widened slightly, calling out, his voice hoarse, "ABBY-" He stopped as the cage suddenly lurched again, flinging him upward this time, into the hard ceiling of the cage. Ezra cried out as he fell down, being pushed down rapidly by the lurching of the cage. He groaned as he hit the ground before being thrust back into the glass. The glass suddenly gave in to the pressure as Ezra's face plunged into it, shattering into tiny shards that cut his face as his whole body slammed into the bars, his bones making sickening scraping noises as they brushed against each other.

Ezra groaned as he slumped to the floor, his face pressed against the bars as his body fell back behind him. Maeva smiled and looked up at Theo. "You think that's punishment enough for him?" she asked.

"For now..." Theo said with a smirk. "We can deal more with him, later..."

Aiden only smirked, lifting his gaze as green gas began to fill Abby's cage.

Abby's eyes widened and she pulled the collar of her shirt up slightly, covering her mouth and her nose so she could breath and use the cloth as a filter. She still smelled it slightly, but not enough for it to have a lot of effect.

Ezra lifted his arms, trying to pull himself up unsuccessfully, groaning. "F-Fine... You've punished me... J-Just leave Abby and Ed alone..." he said weakly.

Aiden smirked and glanced to Ezra, arching a brow. "We couldn't do that. They were trying to escape too, imbecile."

Ezra looked up at Aiden, glaring, as he shouted up at him with anger echoing through his voice, "Just fucking let them be!"

Aiden arched a brow, then smirked and tilted his head. "So...is that what makes you tic? Others suffering?"

Ezra continued to glare at Aiden as he tried to lift himself, failing miserably. He grunted slightly as he fell to the ground, tears clinging to his eyes from the effort. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ed sat up. "I've got a question," he asked quietly, trying to remain calm so he could formulate another plan for getting out. "Why are you doing this...? Why treat fellow human beings like animals?"

Ezra glanced over at Ed. "Because they're bastards..." he replied. He strained once more to lift himself, before falling miserably to the ground.

"Why not, Edward?" Aiden purred, humming to himself as he strolled over to Tsuki's cage, unlocking the door, then stepping in. He picked her up and walked over to the side of her cage that was facing Ezra. "What should I cut off first..? What do you think, Ezra, dear?"

"Bastard!" Ed exclaimed, grabbing one of the bars. "Don't you dare!" Flashes of the results of the human transmutation went through his mind. Memories of when he awoke with two of his limbs as bleeding stumps, and Al... He frowned.

Ezra growled lowly at Aiden, snapping Ed out of his memories. "Leave them the fuck alone, if you're going to cut anything off, cut off your own balls. That way you can fulfill your dream of being of woman. After some breast implants of course. Then Theo and Maeva can have their very own threesome with you," he growled.

Theo twitched. "Little brat. You'd think he'd have learned after the first time..." he growled.

Ezra glared at Theo. "And you'd think _you_ would learn after the first time, that I don't want them punished," the boy shot back.

Aiden smirked, unaffected by those words. He pressed Tsuki's limp form to the cage, holding it there with his body, leaving his hands free. His left hand caught Tsuki's and lifted it above her head, pressing her palm flat against a bar. His right hand came out of his pocket with a scalpel, and he eyed Ezra. "Which finger won't she miss?"

"Tsuki, what are you doing?.! Try fighting him or something!" Ed shouted. When the girl didn't move, he blinked. _She's still unconscious…_ he thought. Trying a different tact, he tried, "C'mon, wake up! Please!"

Ezra glared up at Aiden. "If you want to cut anyone's fingers off, cut off mine, dammit!" he snapped.

Aiden smiled brightly, baring his fangs. "Mm...Nope," he said. He lifted the scalpel high, pressing it into the side of the tip of Tsuki's pinky finger and dragging it down, the metal scraping against the bone. Tsuki twitched and gave a high keening noise, but still didn't wake fully.

The silver-haired prisoner winced and looked away. "Dammit... Just... Just stop it!" he cried.

No other choice. Aiden wasn't going to be distracted, wasn't going to leave the others alone without getting what he came for. "Aiden!" Ed yelled. That was his name, right? He frowned, looking away. "You came here for me, didn't you? Whatever the hell you're going to do, just get it over with. Leave the others out of it..." he said quietly.

Aiden smirked, but didn't move his gaze from Ezra's form as he ignored Ed. "If I cut it off...do you think she'd wake up, Ezra? With this horrible gash here..she probably has a concussion.. It's amazing her skull didn't split in two, you know."

Ezra merely lay there, not looking up at Aiden, keeping his face hidden. He no longer tried to stand, nor did he make any attempt to move at all.

"Please...stop torturing them. I'm the one you guys want right now, right? If you stop then I won't try to resist..." Ed said, frowning as his head lowered, pressing his forehead against the cold steel bars.

Ezra didn't make any move to look up. "Stop giving them what they want, Ed."

Aiden turned his head slowly, glancing back at Edward before turning back to look at Ezra, a smile pulling at his lips. "But that's what I wanted to hear. We can continue if you like." He took the blade to the base of her pinky and pressed down hard and sharp.

Tsuki's eyes snapped open and she gave a little spasm as her mouth opened in a silent scream. She staggered as Aiden backed off abruptly, leaving Tsuki wavering on her feet, her knees shaking violently as she stared down at her finger that clung to the rest of her hand by a few strips of skin. "FFFFFFFFUCK!" She screamed, loud and high pitched and dropped to her knees, blood pooling at her knees as she leaned over, though the movement was a little to fast for her poor head and stomach. She dry heaved for a moment, clutching her hand to her chest as bile dripped from her lips to the puddle of her blood that was threatening to flow over the bottom of her cage. She hissed and screamed again, though it was muffled when she pressed her face to the bottom of her cage, her white shirt slowly turning a bright shade of red.

Ezra didn't look up, didn't make any move to cover his ears from her screaming. "Just... leave her alone..." he muttered, though a bit too late. He turned his head and glanced at Ed. "Be careful, man."

Ed's eyes widened, not even hearing Ezra's warning as he shouted, "I said that was enough! You didn't have to cut her finger off!"

"Ed..." Ezra looked over at him, his eyes bright and shining. "She'll be fine. The only thing you should be worried about right now, is yourself. She's had worse done to her. Trust me," he said.

Ed looked at him for a moment, but then frowned and looking away. He didn't respond; he knew that Ezra probably had a point. But he wasn't about to admit that now, not when he no longer even had the slightest bit of a choice.

Aiden smirked and tilted his head, licking the scalpel clean. "I can make this the worst thing...Unless you all cooperate.. Hm?"

* * *

Author's Note-Hm…it was hard finding a place to end this chapter at. Thankies for all the reviews so far! And now to reply…

Taiyoukai-Okibi- Heh. Things were probably a bit fast-paced for this chapter, too. They'll start to slow down in a bit, though. –nodnod-

The Teenage Writer-Yep, Ed ish going to get it, and probably in the next chapter. Poor, poor Ed.. –evil grin-

AnAngel'sWings-Thankies!

IloveJesus7390-Hm.. I'll work on improving the speaking thing. –nodnod- I was actually a bit worried about that. I'll see what I can do. –smile-

Pichu172B-Yeah, Ezra can't ever keep his mouth shut... –grin- And poor Tsuki..she's pretty much lost a finger.. –smiles and sweatdrops-

Dark Fairy of Doom-Thankies! I'll update soon!

Shakia-Yep. Poor Ed just can't get a break about his height.. –grin-


	8. You See What You See

Author's Note-Thankies for the reviews so far! Disclaimer is the same as always, though I do own Clarissa. Oh yeah, after numerous PMs, e-mails, reviews, and nagging from my friends (the fellow roleplayers who have been helping me write this ficceh), I have finally decided to update. I had no idea that this fanfic was that popular! Thanks for all the support, and I'll try to get back to updating this story again. Here's an extra-long chapter for you guys.

* * *

Ed's hand tightened around the bar. What else could they do? Right now, anyway.. He still didn't look at the scientist, but kept his view on the ground. 

Ezra saw Ed's reaction and laughed a weak, hoarse laugh. "Yeah, I felt that way too before my first time, Ed. But then I came back with my eyes bandaged and stinging, unable to see anything around me for a week and a half," he said.

Aiden smirked at Ezra. "You make it sound like one of us fucked your eyes out, boy."

Ezra glared at him. "You did," he shot back. "You turned me into some kind of freak with glow in the dark eyes." He looked over at Ed again. "Not being able to see where the hag is can be a bitch, trust me. I learned the meaning of the electric whore toy that week."

Aiden blinked slowly, then gave a careless shrug, strolling out of Tsuki's cage, shutting and locking the door behind him. Ezra looked up at him, his eyes following the man's every movement.

Ed sighed, closing his eyes. He tried to ignore what Ezra said, waiting for the inevitable. "Whatever happens, happens.. Besides, as you can probably see, I've been through a lot already. I don't know what they could do that I haven't had to put up with before..."

"The whip seemed to get you pretty good," Ezra said, not looking up at him but keeping his eyes on Aiden.

"Red water..." Ed mumbled. "Basically the same effect..." The red water incident at Lab Five…something that had happened only about a week ago, to his knowledge, perhaps a little bit more, but something he probably wouldn't be forgetting for a long time. Those chemicals truly did seem to have the same effect as electricity. He couldn't think straight, he felt like he was going to die. His mind was overloading while all his cells felt like they were about to burst, his brain felt like it was about to explode. Not a happy memory.

Aiden smiled brightly as he gazed at Ed. "I bet you've never had your fingers sawed off. One by one.."

"Loss of the arm and leg, slowly disintegrating..." Ed countered dully. "As you can see..."

"I'll make it so much slower...and much more painful. You can be sure.." Aiden said. His eyes gleamed as he licked his lips, once against baring his pearly white fangs.

Ed winced at the thought, at the memory of his limbs disappearing coming back to him. "You don't go much for originality, do you...?" he muttered.

"I go with whatever works, brat," Aiden snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ezra took his eyes off Aiden and looked over at Tsuki. "Tsuki!" He hissed at her, trying to keep his voice low. After a long pause of where she didn't respond, he tried again. He glanced up at Aiden again then adjusted himself slightly, continuing to hiss at her. "Tsuki!"

Tsuki lifted her head very, very slowly from where it had been resting on the floor, and she glared daggers at him, having wrapped her hand in the bottom half of her shirt.

Ezra rolled his eyes slightly, hissing, "Don't give me that look. I didn't cut your finger off." His face softened, his golden eyes reflecting his worry. "Are you okay?"

"I'll give you whatever look I wanna fucking look at you with, fuck. What the fuck do I look like right now? Shit. That's right. Do you ever go up to fucking roadkill and ask if it's alright? No, so stop fucking asking me shit like that, dumb fuck."

Ezra's face hardened again, his eyes a reflection of his annoyance. "Fine..." He brought his arms up and finally succeeded in lifting himself up off the ground and pushed himself off the bars, so that he sat in the corner of the cage, leaning against the far bars, the rest of his body limp. "That's what I get for worrying about a woman's well-being..." He muttered under his breath as he visibly brooded.

Maeva smiled and walked up behind him. "It's good to worry about a woman's well-being, Ezra, dear." She stuck the whip through the bars of the cage, pressing it against his back as the electricity hummed through it. Ezra cried out, his eyes widening, his body tensing as the electricity passed through it. Maeva held the whip there for a few moments before pulling back and smirking.

Ezra's body went limp once more as he glared half-heartedly at her. "Stupid hag..."

Theo, who was watching Tsuki, Ezra, and Maeva with some amusement, turned back to Aiden. "Now, now, this is a lab, not a torture chamber, though sometimes I like to think of it as one…" Theo said, grinning. "But there's not much you can discover just by slicing off all of his fingers." Aiden glanced over at him. Theo continued. "C'mon. How about attaching something to him, or perhaps something psychological? Or..." he suggested, grinning at Ed, "We could do something alchemic to him? Change him into a homunculi or something, perhaps...

Ed glared, closing his eyes. "Idiot..." he whispered. "That only works when the person is already dead..."

Aiden sighed heavily and shook his head, frowning at Theo. "Honestly, Theo.. Haven't you read anything I've given you?"

Theo shrugged. "A bit. Skimmed over a few parts," he admitted.

Aiden growled and shook his head again, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground. "You're a real flake sometimes."

Theo shrugged again, grinning over at Ed. "I'll choose to ignore that, though if you must know, that was while I was busy working on my sweetheart's wings. I didn't have the time to be reading about alchemy..."

Ash lifted a wing to watch, showing a bit more of her pale face than Ed could remember seeing, but then lowered it again.

"So anyway, what are we doing to the brat? I'd offer to add something to him, but I specialize more in robotics and stuff, and automail or attached metal would just make him dangerous..."

"Mm.. Maybe we should make a chimera out of him..." Aiden smirked, eyeing Ed.

Ed's amber eyes widened, his thoughts flickering back to Nina. Great. Another Shou Tucker... He glared at Aiden. "Bastard..." he whispered.

Aiden smirked wider and tilted his head. "Have I struck a nerve..?"

He blinked, then looked away. "No..." he muttered, frowning. And then another thought struck him. How was he going to find the Philosopher's Stone to help Al if he escaped as a _chimera_ His fist clenched as his eyes darkened a bit.

Aiden gave a soft yawn into his fist and blinked at Tsuki, who seemed to be having trouble breathing. "Theo, would you take care of little miss bloody?" He turned back to Ed and tilted his head. "And you said you would come peacefully, did you not?"

Theo nodded. "Of course," he said, eager to take this chance at attaching something to another victim. He walk over to Tsuki. He smirked. "You can't perform alchemy, can you?" he asked.

Tsuki gasped and panted, rolling her head slowly to glare up at him, eyes glinting. "Fuck off," she hissed.

Theo grinned. "I'll take that as a no. Wonderful..." he said, opening up her cage and picking her up.

Tsuki groaned and rolled her head back and forth, still clutching her hand against her stomach, the bleeding almost stopped. "Get your...hands off me.."

Theo shook her head, taking her out of the room. "You should be happy. I'm going to build you a new finger," he said. Ed watched the door shut, then turned back to Aiden to respond to his question as he frowned.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I..?"

Aiden smiled brightly. "I'm afraid not. Unless you'd like more blood to look at? Perhaps your own?"

"I'm not afraid..." Ed said, though he was somewhat nervous at what Aiden had in mind. Right. Keep calm. No point in wasting energy with fear when he had no idea what stunt Aiden was about to pull.

Aiden purred to himself, glancing to Maeva. "If you'd retrieve a wheel chair for Mister Elric?"

Maeva nodded. "Sure," she said, going over and grabbing a wheelchair, wheeling it over to them.

'They can't do anything to me...nothing I haven't experienced before, anyway...' Ed thought, watching.

Aiden opened the cage door and waited patiently for Ed to hop through, not attempting to help him.

_He's got to be kidding. I can barely even stand up..._ Ed thought as he pulled himself to a stand and tried hopping out the best he could, nearly falling over. Aiden snickered and pushed Ed into the chair, wheeling him out of the room and into a dark room where red light shone from a single bulb. Ed blinked, looking around. "What are you planning to do, exactly...?" he asked. He turned to glare at the redhead. "It'd better be nothing with needles..!"

"Nothing fun, I can assure you," Aiden warned. He smiled and pulled a roll of duct tape out of his pocket. "Let's get you situated, hm?" He smirked, duct-taping Ed securely to the wheelchair.. He wouldn't be going very far at all. After that, he began plunking little sensory thingies to Ed's head, face, and neck, humming merrily all the while.

Ed sweatdropped, then looked up at Aiden as if the man was an idiot. _The hell…?_ he wondered. "You _do_ know that I can barely walk to begin with, right...?" He surprised himself with his calmness, but then, considering all the situations he'd been in.. When Aiden didn't answer his first question, he asked, "Anyways, what's all this shit for..?"

"You'll find out, Eddy." Aiden hummed louder and set up a little TV next to Ed's head. "There we go. Now...What _does_ your brother look like again?" He asked, watched the screen.

"Don't call me that..." Ed grumbled. His eyes widened suddenly widened. "Wait! How do you know about Al!" he demanded as an image of Al both in armor form and human form appeared on the screen.

Aiden grinned and placed his hands on his hips. "Perfect... Now..mind telling me your fears?"

Ed glared, not noticing the screen as needles, failing, friends and family getting hurt or hating him, and...a wrench? appeared on it. He needed to know why this bastard was interested in his little brother. He wouldn't allow Al to suffer through this crap… "What does this have to do with your project? Why do you want to know about Al?"

"No reason...Just don't stop thinking, hm?"

"What do you mean...?" Ed asked, giving Aiden a suspicious look.

Aiden smiled reassuringly. "Absolutely nothing. Now how did you get that arm of yours?"

"I lost it in an accident..." Ed said. It was somewhat the truth, but not entirely. The night of the human transmutation attempt, of Winry and Pinako building him a new arm and leg and attaching it, all the touch-ups and time they had spent while visiting Risemboul flashed on the screen.

"And why did you have to get the false limbs, Ed?"

"What kind of question is that? I'd be pretty pathetic without them..." Ed said, as battles flashed on the screen. Not to mention the day he joined the military and found out that he could transmute without a circle.

Aiden frowned. "How did you lose your limbs Ed? What did you do? How did you screw up?"

The grip on the arm of the wheelchair tightened as Ed glared. "That's none of your business!" he shot back as images of his mother flashed on the screen, the blood seal being drawn on Al's armor, the promise to search for the Philosopher's stone...

Aiden smirked, eyes flashing. "So that's what you tried, you little fool."

"What...?" Ed muttered. He looked over at the screen, his amber eyes widening to see all of his memories and words showing on the screen. He looked back at Aiden. "You're trying to see all my memories? All of my secrets...?" he whispered.

Aiden smirked and placed his hands on Ed's duct-taped arm, leaning over so they were face to face. "You wanted something that had never happened before...Here it is.."

Ed stared at him for a moment, somewhat in horror, then began to struggle. "That's enough! My memories are mine and mine alone. I'm not going to allow you to see them!" he exclaimed.

"Why? What don't you want anyone else to know Ed? Why don't you show me? Get it off your chest for a while.."

"No..." Ed said. "There's some things I can't allow others to know... Especially _not_ you.."

"Well that's too bad...sooner or later...they'll come to mind." Aiden stood up straight and let out a deep, throaty laugh, fists at his hips. "You aren't as unstoppable as you think.."

"I'm not going to let that happen..." Ed said, focusing, trying to get his mind to go blank.

Aiden smirked and ran a hand through his hair, grinning down at the blonde boy. "We'll see about that.." He reached over to the screen and pressed a button, and all of the memories that had just been viewed on the TV were projected onto the wall in front of Ed, sounds and all. "Enjoy, little one."

Ed's eyes widened, then looked away, biting back regretful tears as the human transmutation showed up on the screen. His guilt…his shame…his sin… He'd already gotten a front row seat, remembered it all too clearly...but the last thing he wanted was for him and someone else to see it on an outside source. "Turn it off..." he whispered.

Aiden smirked. "No," he replied firmly.

"Turn it off..." he ordered in a louder voice. His hand gripped the arm tighter as he saw the experiment go wrong, him trying to save Al the best he could, and shuddering at the monster that was the result of their failed attempt. Here he was, watching it. Again. And not just from his memory, but from an outside source. And yet…he still couldn't do anything to stop it. He still couldn't fix things, make them right again.

Aiden smirked even wider, eyes widening. "Or what?"

The blonde boy was caught by that. Or what? What _could_ he do in his state? His foot didn't even reach the ground, so it wasn't like he could try to push away. His head lowered. "I've already had to live through this..." he whispered. "I...I don't need to go seeing it again..."

"You'll see it again, Edward. And again. And again." Aiden snickered, and pressed another button. A helmet flipped over the back of the chair and settled around Ed's head, tiny sticky pads smacking him in the eyes and yanking his eyelids open, holding them there.

Ed tried to jerk his head forward, trying to avoid the helmet, but to no avail. It was a futile effort. "Why?.? What's the point in this?.!" he shouted.

"Giving you a new experience. Don't worry. You'll either break or grow stronger. Have a nice night," Aiden purred, strolling past Ed and into the hall.

"What! You bastard!" Ed shouted, trying to struggle.

Aiden shut the door firmly and strolled back to the prison room, yawning and glancing around. "Well..What's left then.."

Ezra glared at Aiden, regaining consciousness but too weak to move. "You bastard...what did you do with him? Why isn't he with you?" he growled.

"Yeah. Where's Ed?" Abby demanded, walking up to the front of the cage.

The girl with long white hair that had been silent for most of the time sat up and blinked as her wings moved back slightly, into a more comfortable position.

Aiden smirked a bit. "He's watching a movie. Not one you'd want to see, trust me."

Abby's green eyes narrowed. "A movie? About what...?" she demanded.

Aiden frowned at her. "Shut up, will you?"

The red-haired girl growled, her fists clenching. "Bastard.."

Aiden smirked and tipped an imaginary hat at her, settling onto a stool and flipping through a file while humming a happy tune.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Risemboul, one of the soldiers walked up to Hughes as the group returned to the house. "Sir, we've identified the chemical and the fingerprints. The chemical is chloroform and the fingerprints are the same ones we've been finding at the scenes of the other kidnappings," she said. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, looking around her early twenties, possibly even late teens. 

Hughes nodded as he took the bottle with a gloved hand. "Thanks, Clarissa. I figured that would be the case..." he said. He sighed. "Looks like this may be more serious than I hoped. Guess I'll have to call Roy and tell him what happened. He's not going to be happy..." He glanced over at Winry. "Would it be alright if I could use your phone?"

Winry nodded. "Sure, it's over here…" she said, leading him inside and showing him over to the phone.

Hughes sat down in a chair nearby and dialed the number to East Headquarters. When Havoc picked up, he said, "Hey, this is Hughes. I need to speak to Roy.."

* * *

"Yeah, just a sec…" Havoc said, walking over to Roy's office. He opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Hey." 

Roy looked up from his paper work, eyes narrowed. He seemed a bit agitated. "What is it?" he asked gruffly, pulling another large file out of a drawer and plopping it down on his desk.

"It's for you. It's Hughes."

Roy grumbled to himself and picked up the phone, holding it between his ear and shoulder, eyes scanning absently over the papers in front of him. "Talk to me," he said. _Hopefully it's good news. Maybe they actually caught Scar..._

"Hey, Roy. We...kind of have a bit of a situation going on," Hughes said. He sounded a bit hesitant, knowing that Roy would probably flame him if he were actually there for what he was about to hear next.

_Or not…_ "Don't beat around the bush, Hughes. Just tell me what you called to tell me," the colonel growled, scribbling something or other on a blank piece of paper.

"Right... I don't know if you've heard about this yet. There's been frequent kidnapping cases going on recently, all at random. There's been a lot at Central and a few in your area, if I'm right.."

There was a long pause. "Hughes.." Roy started. He had a tone of warning in his voice as his eyes narrowed.

Hughes sighed. "I'm telling you about that because I'm investigating it right now. At the Rockbells'. Apparently Ed was kidnapped about four days ago."

There was another long, long pause..."...WHAT?.!" Roy nearly screamed into the phone, papers flying from his desk. "Just what the hell do you mean, 'Fullmetal's been kidnapped?.!'" And just what did he mean 'four days ago'?.! Why wasn't he informed about this sooner?.!

"It's just like I said, he was kidnapped," Hughes repeated, sounding a bit shaken. His tone regained seriousness. "There's been a series of random kidnappings going on throughout Amestris. From what we've been able to gather, it's been the same people responsible for all the other kidnappings. Same fingerprints left at all the other crime scenes. And probably like most of the other kidnappings, they probably snuck up on him and used chloroform to knock him unconscious."

Roy slowly relaxed, sitting back in his chair and leaned on his elbows on his desk, grumbling. "Do we have any leads other than that?"

"Not yet. We just arrived. Luckily it was a muddy day on the day of the kidnapping, so Al and Winry were able to trace the footprints in the graveyard to where they think they found a struggle take place, then Ed being dragged to a vehicle. One of the soldiers found a bottle of chloroform nearby, which is what confirmed the fingerprints," Hughes replied. There was a pause, then, "I don't like this, Roy. We haven't been able to find any bodies, hostages, nothing. Not to mention there aren't any witnesses. The victims don't seem to have anything in common. Age, gender, background, ect. The only thing they seem to have in common is the fact that they were alone."

Roy uttered a curse under his breath and put a hand over his eyes, taking a deep breath and then letting it out. Damn kid was always getting into trouble… "And what about tire tracks?"

"They were gone from the storm the following night. They were found in the evening, so Al and Winry couldn't follow very far. But from what they said, the tire tracks turned down the north road, and now that I just got this file from Sheska..." There was a pause. "The kidnappings all seem to be going down a northern path. I dunno if the path leads up to wherever their hideout is or what; it seems a bit stupid to leave such an obvious path. Not at all like someone who would be able to kidnap Ed."

"Careless...I'll take the next train and be in Risemboul as soon as I can. I'll meet you are the Rockbells', " Roy said, beginning to tidy up his desk, putting paperwork back into the top drawers.

"You've got enough on your plate already, Roy. I wouldn't suggest it," Hughes recommended.

"I'm coming!" He slammed the phone down and growled, standing up and pulling on his jacket, stalking out of the office.

Hawkeye walked down the hall, stopping and blinking at the colonel, a file in her arms. "Sir...?" she asked, wondering what was going on.

"Go pack, Hawkeye. We're going to meet up with Hughes in Risemboul in the morning."

She blinked, frowning. "May I ask why, Sir?" she asked.

Roy frowned and looked back at her. The blonde noted the stress on the colonel's features. Not unusual, but he didn't seem this bad a few minutes ago. She wondered what had happened to upset him this much. Maybe he was running low on coffee… But then she got her answer… "Fullmetal's been kidnapped."

Her eyes widened with surprise slightly, but then grew grim as she nodded. "Understood. I won't be long," she said, hurrying to go pack.

Roy hurried off to do the same, growling as he rang up the secretary to book tickets for the midnight train.

* * *

Author's Note-Well, Roy fans, you have gotten your wish. Roy has made his appearance. –grin- Finally, I have posted…and my god, I have tons of reviews to respond to. Um…I'll try to get to them all, but if not, then review in this chapter and I'll try to respond. Oh, by the way, for anyone reading Dark Rain...that will be updated very soon. Thanks, and don't worry-more torture is yet to come.

crazyanimefreak15-Heh. Well, don't worry, you didn't miss much.

Psychofullmetalfan-Yep. Thankies!

Dark Fairy of Doom-Thankies! We'll do that. –nodnod-

IloveJesus7390-Heh. Thankies! Though keep in mind that this is actually a roleplay between my friends and I. So either we were roleplaying better…or I just put it into story format better. –smiles and sweatdrops- Yeah, it was gruesome. And purely Kisike… -nodnod- Aiden and Tsuki are her characters, after all.

FullMetalEdward-Yep. Dismemberment. You'll see it all in this fanfic-electric shocks, mad scientist, automail pinkies… -grin-

Taiyoukai-Okibi-Nah, it's nothing like that. And…what? Bob?.! Where? –looks around and doesn't see him- Heh…Bob is my typo demon… -smiles and sweatdrops-

Pichu172B-Now, now. Thou shalt not puteth fellow students in labs full of evil scien…ah, what am I saying? I know plenty of people that need to go there, too. –nodnod- Heh, I knew that Ezra would have a fan club! And don't worry-there's always automail for Kisike!

Kylie-I hate to tell you, but as I have said before, this is technically a roleplay that my friends are doing. Therefore, I have control over Abby, Edo, Ash, and Theo. My explaination for Abby? She's stubborn, she's a rebel at heart, and she has vague hope still in tact. Some people are tenacious-most of the characters in this story probably are.

Ash-Thankies so much for everything so far! Your beta-reading has been very helpful so far, and I shall try to keep it a success and do justice to Ash and Theo.

The Teenage Writer-Very true. Edo just can't keep his big mouth shut. –smiles and sweatdrops- Um…here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chibimacha7-Here's Hughes. And Mustang! Glad you like the ficceh.

Shakia-Heh. Thankies! It comes from being in a whole lot of lab roleplays on gaiaonline... Um…sorry it took so long. Let's interpret soon to now. –sweatdrop- Heh, it's a good thing that Ezra doesn't have this many fangirls in the fanfic-his ego is already bloated enough.

Kitsune Freak-Um…okay? I'll see what I can do about some sending you some climbing gear through the computer…

Key Gee Bee-Yeah, well that's how roleplays normally turn out. Everyone pretty much gets equal airtime due to everyone contributing with their characters. Unless that person disappears all of a sudden without warning. Then the plotline decides to move on along without them unless it wants risk of dying.

PsycoNeko15-I agree. They all need hugs. –nodnod-

xxxxxxx-Oh god! Don't explode! Who will post the fanfic?.! –gets into bomb shelter- Okay, now you can explode.

Edward elric's wife-A new one? Um…I think people like this one… I think I'll stick to this one for now. –nodnod-

Cadetanimewolf-Heh. You should go to gaiaonline sometime. They used to have a ton of these kinds of roleplays.

xcloudx-Um…okay, calm down, I'm updating. No need to panic people! –smile-

NarutosGirl52-Let's see…Edo's around sixteen, Abby's around seventeen, Ezra I think is either seventeen or eighteen, and I think Tsuki is nineteen. Glad you think the ficceh so far. –grin-

Gozilla , Spirit Anime, Red Mist, and Whisper7-Yay! I updated. Glad you guys like it. –nodnod-

Ayame-Heh. If you can read, then you're worthy enough in my opinion. –nodnod- Glad to see loyal fans out there.

Djdoodet-Yeah, I see that now. Sorry for making you guys wait so long.

Dark-Syaoran-Well, there's currently no blood. Maybe next time.


	9. Rays of Hope

Author's Note-Sorry for taking so long, guys. I just started up highschool as a senior last week, and it's been keeping me busy. Not to mention Dirge of Cerberus... -grin- Anywho, I don't own FMA and I don't own any of the characters except Abby. And I dunno why the ruler thingies don't seem to be working...so until they do, bear with me.

---

Time passed. He had no idea how long. Maybe it was a few hours, but it all seemed like a mere eternity… He tried to look away, to focus his eyes on something else. But he could still hear everything clearly, see everything clearly. The disk seemed to have recorded more than just the memories that Aiden had unearthed, but his entire life. And now he was reliving random memories…over and over again. It was hardly much different from rubbing salt into an open wound…

Abby had been right. This was hell on earth. And while the viewing of his memories and sins never seemed to cease, he could gradually feel his hope starting to slip away. Yes, he was stubborn, he was determined, but…facts were facts. He cursed his skeptical mind for naturally looking more at the facts than the slim reassurances that the others had said earlier.

The others…how long had they been here for? Years, right? Even if the military did start putting more focus into the case, if they had even been on this case to begin with, then there wasn't much of a chance that they would be found…was there? If they were going to get out, then it would have to be up to them, and considering the circumstances, those chances seemed even less. They would never escape…would they…?

But…no…he had to help his brother…he had to make things right again… But how would he do that when he was being imprisoned in here? And even if they did escape, could they do it before his mental and physical state was pushed to and past their breaking points? What if they were already? …How would he be of much help then…?

He wanted to believe that they could do it. He wanted to believe, but as had happened many times before, he couldn't grasp that hope. And with all of this…he couldn't even focus enough to come up with a plan for escape, or barely even motivate himself to try. The chains of the past now weighed heavier on his mind and soul. So all he could do now was sit and watch his sins being replayed over and over, becoming lost in the depths of memory. Everything had gone wrong because of him. Could he fix it now…? …No…not anymore…

Edward Elric wanted to believe…but the only light that remained were the light from his memories on the screen.

---

The next morning, Tsuki sat in the far corner of her cage, bandages thick around her left hand and head, covering her right eye somewhat. She rocked back and forth slowly, cursing the world.

Aiden hummed softly as he walked into the room, flipping through a few papers clipped onto a clip board. "Good morning, filths."

The girl in the far cage-Ash-had sat up, leaning sideways weakly to watch. Her eyes were maroon and her hair was long and white. She had large, bat-like wings folded behind her.

"Where the hell is Ed?" Abby demanded.

Aiden smiled. "He's either alseep or insane..But I'm not taking bets on which. Who's ready for breakfast?"

Ezra glared at Aiden and looked away, muttering something low under his breath.

"What did you do to him?" Abby demanded, her green eyes flashing dangerously as she gripped the bars tighter.

Ash got a hopeful look in her eyes at the mention of breakfast. Theo hadn't fed her in nearly a week.

Ezra rolled his eyes and held up his hand. "I'll take some of that breakfast, Aiden," he spoke up, obviously doubting that he would get any.

Aiden smirked and opened a little cabinet in the back of the room. He pressed a button under the counter and two bowls rose up in each cage, one full of water, the other empty. He hummed softly as he pressed several more buttons. Two rock hard pieces of molding bread popped up in Abby and Ezra's bowl, a fresh piece in Ash's, and milk filled Tsuki's free bowl.

Tsuki looked up slowly, ears slanting backwards. "You fuck. You're kidding me."

Abby was meanwhile unamused. "I asked what you did to Ed," she repeated.

Ezra glanced at Abby. "He's not going to tell us. It'll be all the more amusing for them to have him show up wrapped in bandages and moaning in pain. There's not much we can really do."

Abby frowned, then looked away as she sighed in frustration.

Aiden smirked and tilted his head, watching Ash with an arched brow.

Ash blinked, slowly and weakly bringing a hand up to the bar as she watched.

Ezra followed his gaze and turned to look at Ash as well. "You know, why not just give her some food instead of taunting her with it?"

"Oh..Of course." Aiden frowned. "She has food, imbecile."

Ezra shrugged, "Then leave her alone and let her eat it without your big nose in her face."

Ash turned and picked up the bread, starting to eat it.

"Running out of effective insults?" Aiden taunted.

Ezra turned and looked at him, his eyes flashing. "I've decided not to insult the scum that don't deserve my time." He looked back at Ash. "For now, anyway."

Abby sighed. She wasn't about to be distracted from what was important. "At /least/ tell us when Ed is coming back. I know you haven't killed him."

"I have no idea when I'll let Ed out. Whenever I get bored, I guess." Aiden smiled and sipped daintily at a cup of coffee.

A girl inside one of the test tubes opened her eyes slightly to watch.

Ezra merely turned and glared at the bowl. He wrinkled his nose disgustedly and kicked the bread out of the bowl. "Too bad he isn't here, he could use this stuff to scratch a fucking transmutation circle..."

"Can I have some cereal to go with this damn milk?" Tsuki grumbled, ears flat against her head.

"Mm...No." Aiden purred absently and glanced at Ezra. "It's all you're getting for all the back talk you've been giving lately."

Abby glanced over at him, then sighed and picked up her bread. "Hm..." she muttered. She banged the bread against the concrete floor, raising an eyebrow. "This is supposed to be bread..? Look at this! It's not even breaking… I think one of you guys just gained a hobby with painting mossy rocks brown…" she commented. In spite of her complaints, though, she looked over at the transmutation circle Ed had started to begun to scratch inside his cage earlier. She turned her back to Aiden and began to copy it with one of the more pointed parts of the so-called bread. When she copied all that there was, she started to improvise.

Ezra shrugged. "I can go weeks without eating." He glanced over at Abby. "Why does she have this shit too? She hardly did anything. I'm the one who insulted your fucking orientation."

Aiden frowned at Ezra, holding up the remote. "Did you like the smell of that gas?"

Abby frowned, thinking for a moment. Finally she finished all she could, thinking it looked ready enough. 'Hope I can do this...' she thought, placing her hand on the small circle.

Ezra shrugged. "Either way I answer, I'm screwed over." He glanced at Aiden. "Press the damn button again. I can take it. I took it last night and I'll take it again today."

"I'd hate to waste it on you.." Aiden tilted his head, and pondered asking Theo to remove Ezra's voice box the next time he played doctor.

Abby glanced over at the others, then closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. What was it that Ed had done? There was a split-second pause, then a flash of light... The transmutation circle began to pulse with light, not enough to actually glow from the floor yet, but just enough to fill the etchings of the circle.

Ezra laughed hoarsely. "What's wrong, Aiden? My lack of enthusiasm bothering you?"

Aiden frowned, ignoring Ezra and glancing to Abby. "You shouldn't play with your food, Abby."

Abby's eyes opened as the transmutation circle dimmed. "Tch. Whatever..." she mumbled, lying back on the circle to hide it.

Ezra grinned amusedly at Aiden, his eyes flashing. "No answer, huh? I guess it must be bothering you. Since you're avoiding the subject like a pussy." He paused and gave a mock expression of shock. "Oops, did I just insult you again? I guess that didn't last long."

Tsuki rolled her eyes at that one. "You are trying -way- too hard. Don't make me throw this bowl at you," she said, even though she knew that the bowl was not going anywhere, no matter how hard one chose to pull at them. Aiden frowned at Abby, then smirked and looked down at his paper work.

Ezra laughed and looked over at Tsuki. "I'd like to see you try, Tsuki." He looked over at Aiden. "I guess I'll just have to insult him when everyone else is here. It's much easier to put him into a threesome with the whore and the boytoy."

Tsuki growled and splashed milk and water towards Ezra's cage. "Shutup! If my finger weren't attached I'd throw it at you!" She hissed.

Ezra looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Look, Tsuki, I'm not here to pick fights with you."

"Then shut the fuck up! You're getting annoying!" She huffed and turned her back, crossing her arms.

Ezra glared at the back of her head and picked up his piece of bread, tossing it up and down in the air, ignoring her comment. He sighed boredly as he hit the bread against the ceiling of his cage.

The girl in the test tube watched Aiden. Her eyes slowly shifted to look over at the tools hanging on the wall. One of the screwdrivers on the wall began to wobble slightly.

Aiden smirked at them. "Hm. Internal conflict with the renegades? Have fun for a few minutes," Aiden muttered turning and walking out of the room, leaving his coffee cup on the counter.

Ezra watched him leave then brushed off the piece of bread and leaned forward, reaching his arm through the bars of his cage and tossing the piece of bread towards Tsuki. He watched it land just outside her cage bars before leaning back against his corner. "You can throw it, or you can eat it. Your choice. I just thought it might be better than milk."

Meanwhile, the girl in the test tube watched the man leave the room. The screwdriver wobbled again, then began to rise up from the rack. When it did, it moved out a bit, then dropped to the floor. It slowed to a stop before it could land with a clatter, then began to make its way towards Ezra. The girl kept her eyes focused on the screwdriver the entire time, staring at it intensely.

Ezra blinked and turned to look at the rack. He could have sworn he had seen movement. He noticed the movement again in the corner of his eye and looked down at the screwdriver. "What the..."

Abby blinked at the screwdriver, then up at the girl and grinned. "Telekinesis..." she muttered. "Looks like those bastards gave one of us something useful after all.."

Ezra looked up at Abby, then followed her gaze and looked at the girl. "Great, another girl who can throw my kindness back in my face." He grumbled slightly then leaned back against the cage bars. His eyes moved to the screwdriver again.

The screwdriver hit the bars of Ezra's cage and stopped. The girl looked up at him and smiled through her air mask.

Ezra raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl before picking up the screwdriver, turning it so it came through the bars. "What exactly do you want me to do with this?" Even if he could get out his cage with it, he wouldn't have time to free the others. The security would go off and shut every door in the stupid lab. They'd go into lock down and get nothing but stale, moldy bread for a month.

The girl blinked, not able to hear him but seeing the confusion on his face. She paused, thinking for a moment. The screwdriver suddenly began to tug out of his hand, towards Abby.

Ezra glanced down at the screwdriver and stood, letting the screwdriver pull him towards Abby. He glanced over at the girl, then at Abby, then back again. "Abby..?"

"I see..." Abby muttered quietly. "She saw me go chameleon yesterday..."

The screwdriver reached her cage and she reached down, picking it up and then walking over to the lock.

Ezra looked up at the camera in the corner of the room and glanced at the girl, walking over to the side of his cage and nodding towards it, looking at her questioningly.

The camera slowly, conveniently began to turn away. The girl looked like she was starting to get weary, but continued to concentrate.

Abby began to pick at the lock. "Dammit..." she muttered. "I was never really good with this..."

Ezra smiled at the girl and looked over at Abby. "Hey, Abby, toss it. If I can get us out, you can free the others and I can go find the alchemist. I just have to work up my speed."

Abby glanced over at him, then nodded and tossed it back over to him. "Just be sure to get his arm," she muttered. "I think I see it over on the back table. Or it could be his leg; I can't tell.."

"Wait, wait, give it to me. I can go faster than all ya'll." Tsuki waved her hands at Ezra. "And I know how to pick locks."

Ezra glanced at her then tossed it to her. He glanced at Abby. "Do you think they've got an extra set of keys somewhere?"

"Lying around here? Somehow I doubt it..." Abby said. "Now this is the basic security of the area based on what I've seen: the whole place is mainly underground. Four stories to be exact; there's one story above. All floors and hallways are white and look the same. There's all sorts of locks, alarms, and cameras. Are you /sure/ you'll be able to dodge all that shit?" she asked, looking over at Ezra.

Tsuki snorted, catching the screwdriver. "I ain't goin through anyone's pockets," she mumbled, standing and slipping to the door of her cage, working at the lock. It popped open moments later and she smirked, easing the door open. She murmured something or other to herself and snuck around the back of the cages to Abby's, cracking that lock in a matter of moments. "Alright.. Can you handle everyone else?"

Ezra rolled his eyes, "I can move faster than all those cameras. It's just a matter of knocking them out. I can pick something out of here to do that with."

Tsuki huffed and glared at Ezra. "We'll both go. You can't do it alone."

Abby nodded as she stepped through the door, pausing for a moment, then going into chameleon mode. "Yeah, sure," she whispered. "Tsuki...thanks. And...if it comes down to it, leave if you both get caught. Don't bother coming back for us; just go," she said.

Ezra rolled his eyes at Abby, leaning against the bars of his cage. "I'm not leaving anyone behind. If we end up getting caught, stealth won't matter, I can head to security and turn everything off. It'll leave the scientists in confusion."

"I'll go and get help if I have to.. You guys just have to work at staying alive and in one piece.." Tsuki smiled and gave Abby a thumbs up before lookig to Ezra. "Why don't you go do that now, if you're so sure. I'll be slowed down if I have to carry Ed back here."

"I'd already be gone if you'd have picked my lock first."

"Fuck off and just do it." Tsuki hissed, scurrying towards a door in the back of the room. "Abby.. There's a lantern thing in here, in case Chipper here cuts off the lights too. I'll be as quick as I can."

Ezra looked over at Abby in annoyance. "Get me out of here, Abby... I need to shut everything off."

Tsuki smirked and waved a mock-salute to Ezra before turning and sprinting off thru the door they had taken Ed into.

Abby nodded and crept over to Ezra's cage, beginning to pick at it with the screwdriver. "After this, I'll get Ash and the other girl out.." she said.

Ezra glanced up at her then rolled his eyes. "I am going to shut off the lights Abby, it'll help keep the scientists under confusion. Only use the lantern when you need to. The light will alert the scientists that something's up. Let your eyes adjust to the dark. You probably can't see as much as me, but it'll be easier. Once you free them, get out of here."

Abby nodded. "Look, I'm serious. If something happens to me, make your way to a military base and ask for Clarissa O'Brien. She works for Lieutenant Hughes," she said quietly as she worked. "They'll be able to find this place, especially with a refugee to help them."

Ezra smiled and put a finger under her chin, lifting her face to meet his. "Nothing's gonna happen to you, or them. We're all going to get out of here. Got me?" He winked at her and gave her a confident smirk. "Besides, the Hag's probably busy with the Boy Toy and the faggot."

Abby blinked, then sighed. "Yeah. Okay..." she said. "Always good to be prepared, though..."

Ezra nodded. "True... But I'll make sure nothing happens to ya."

The lock eventually came undone and Abby opened the door slowly and quietly.

Ezra smiled and stepped out. He glanced up at the camera. "Keep yourself safe, Abs." He smiled and seemed to disappear suddenly, appearing at the door. "See ya around." He smiled once more before disappearing, the door swinging shut behind him.

Abby watched, then nodded. "Sure.." she said. She walked over to Ash's cage and began to pick the lock. "Not sure if you can walk.." she muttered. "Hopefully you can."

Ash looked up at her and blinked, then nodded. "I might be able to.." she whispered.

Abby managed to break the lock open to Ash's cage, then darted over to the girl and stared at the tank for a moment. "Oh, this is gonna be hell..." she muttered, trying to recall what computer skills her sister had taught her as she began to press buttons on the test tube panel.

---

Tsuki purred contentedly to herself as she snuck down the hallway, peeking around corners before slipping around them, pressed flat against the walls to avoid being seen by the cameras. She came to a door and peeked in, arching a brow. She stood up straight and stared... It seemed to be a massage therapy room. Her eyes widened somewhat as she closed the door, making a disgusted sound.

She snuck further along and opened another door, standing up again. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her. It took seconds for her eyes to adjust completely, and when they did, she wished they hadn't. She stared as pictures that were unfamiliar danced across the far wall, emitting a soft glow to the rest of the room. "...Eh..Ed...?" She called hesitantly, eyes wide. She looked to the figure in the chair, walking over to it quietly and placing a hand on his shoulder and turning him slightly.

Ed had tears running down his cheeks. He looked over at Tsuki with shameful eyes. "Please don't watch..." he whispered. "Just turn it off..."

The image of the results of the human transmutation was flashing on the screen again. A chibi Ed, trying to save his younger brother with the soul transmutation, using his own blood...

Her eyes widened further as she stared down at Ed. She nodded suddenly and looked away from the wall, but she couldn't help but glance back as she fumbled for the power switch. "Jesus.." She whispered, stumbling as her toe caught something on the ground. The images stopped all of a sudden, and the face of Ed's mother faded slowly into blackness. Tsuki blinked a few times and sighed heavily, staring fixedly at the ground and the pulled power cord to the machine. She let out a little 'eep' when something bumped her hand and she looked down. A disk had popped out of the TV. She frowned and took it, looking it over before stuffing it into her pocket, beginning to tear at the duct tape that held Ed to the chair. "We're gonna get you outta here, okay Ed? Okay?"

Ed blinked up at her, his eyes blank. "O...kay..?" he said, disoriented.

Tsuki stared at him for a moment, frowning. "...Ed?"

Ed blinked. Was she talking to him? Ed... Was that his name...? He looked around, not seeing anyone else aside from the two of them. "I guess..." he said.

---

Author's Note-Yep, we're back! It's good to see we have so many loyal fans… I'm surprised at how successful this story has turned out so far. –nodnod- Anywho, time to respond to the reviews! Hopefully I'll have some time to update Darkness today, too… (Which reminds me, if anyone's a fan of the X-Files, be sure to check it out! It doesn't have FMA in there directly, but I did add a few touches from it in there.) I'll probably update it tomorrow if not today. Heh…anyway, on to the responses!

Silver Windflame-Glad you like it. Updating now.

The Teenage Writer-Heh…pleasant surprise for the morning, ne? Now, for the torture idea, it's Kisike (Aiden and Tsuki's roleplayer) who gets most of the applause for that. I merely suggested the idea of the memory machine thingy, but Kisike was the one that turned the experiment into a torture idea. Of course, with me roleplaying as Edo, I got to surprise everyone with the end result of little accident that happened at the end of the chapter… -grin- As for the investigation, it might be a couple of chapters before we jump back to them, but they will be making their reappearance eventually. –nodnod-

Chibimacha7-Heh. Sorry about that. –smiles and sweatdrops- I'm trying my best to update regularly again. –nodnod-

Eyelet Lace-Aw, thankies. –smile- It's fun to roleplay, too. –nodnod-

xcloudx-Sorry about that. I got a little lazy. –smiles and sweatdrops- I'm glad we're back, too. –nodnod-

TO-Thankies! Though Kisike, Mikomi, and I are curious to know…how does Ezra remind you of Envy?

Mecha Otaku-Lovely? Heh. Thanks. We try to be descriptive and all. –nodnod- Updating now.

ArrowofHikaru-Thankies. –grin-

Edward elric's wife-No problem. –smiles and sweatdrops- Anyways, nah. He hasn't exactly gained something, yet, at least. Though there is something that he's lost…

Chrosis-Updated! What do you think? –grin-

IloveJesus7390-Heh. I react the same way when it comes to most schoolwork. I should probably get out of the habit of doing that, now that I have AP English… -smiles and sweatdrops- Anywho, yeah, Kisike does roleplay a pretty good Roy (I normally roleplay Hughes-the obsessive personality ish fun to roleplay, as well as Edo and a few other characters), and she roleplays an even better Envy. –grins and nods-

An Angel's Wings-Yeah, there were quite a few wordy-derds. That's one of the main reasons that I've been debating on changing the rating to this. On the other hand, it is already rated teen, and language like that is fairly common at my highschool… -smiles and sweatdrops- Anywho, yep. Maeva and Theo are bad people, but by far, I think I'd vote Aiden the worst. –nodnod- But yeah, I'm glad you like it so far.

Ayame-Glad that you like it! Updated. –grins and nods-


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